Return to Me
by Eriks leadinglady
Summary: Raoul and Christine have a child, but when she gets lost and goes to the Opera House, what will happen when Erik finds her? Not an EC phic. Sequel - Clouds Shroud the Light
1. Prologue

**Hello Everybody! Welcome to my first fanfic! This is mainly based on the Gaston Leroux book (which I have read) and also mixed with a little of the Andrew Lloyd Webber movie. Well, please read and review. Thanks!**

Chapter 1

"Come on, honey, you can do it. Come on now, push!"

"I am pushing!" Christine yelled.

He gave her a quick look of dismay, but then returned to delivering the baby.

"Okay, I can see the head," he said excitedly. "One more big push… there! I have her!"

Raoul went over and grabbed the towel that they had prepared and began to gently clean off their newly born baby girl. After he had wrapped her in a fresh blanket, he handed her over to his wife.

"Ohh, she is beautiful," Christine said.

"I know, isn't she," Raoul replied. "What should we call her?"

After a slight pause, Christine answered, "How about Emma?"

Raoul flashed a big smile. "Emma is a fantastic name!"

"Alright," Christine said to the baby while rocking her slowly. "We shall call you Emma."

The first few days of parenting went horribly. Raoul did not have a clue as to what he was to do. All he heard was, "Raoul I need a blanket!" "Raoul, get me a diaper!" He was just rushing all over the place! Every once in a while, he would say, "Wait, Christine, I need a break." But she would just give him that "look" of hers, and he would get back to work.

After about a week or so, they both had finally gotten the hang of parenting. Christine was now able to get a little rest, and Raoul was able to get to spend time with his baby girl. For a while, Christine would not let him hold Emma or do anything. She thought that he would not do it correctly, and he would only upset the baby, that's why she was ordering him around all the time. But then one day, Christine got so exhausted, that she just fell asleep with the baby in her arms. Raoul saw this and crept over to her and gently picked up the baby, who was so small in his arms. Emma gave a small hiccup and Raoul smiled down at her. But that smile quickly faded when she began to cry.

Completely lost as to what could possibly be the matter, he just tried everything to make her behave. He gave her the rattle, a stuffed toy, a new blanket, but nothing would seem to work. In his last attempt to calm her, he just turned her around in his arms, and patted her back. After about 2 minutes of doing this, the crying was hushed, and Emma fell asleep. Raoul was quite pleased with himself, but was suddenly taken over with fatigue. With Emma still in his arms, he walked over to a chair, and fell asleep. Soon after Raoul had fallen asleep, Christine awoke from her much needed nap. The first sight she saw when her eyes fluttered open was Raoul asleep with the baby in his arms. Christine was so pleased with the sight that from then on, she let Raoul share in some of the work.

Everything in their happy home was going along perfectly. Emma had taken her first step at 11 months old, her first word, which was "Maman", at 12 months. The years were flying by, and soon their little girl was five. She was very bright for her age and could already write a few words.

But one day, when they all went out to go grocery shopping, Raoul and Christine's worst nightmare happened. While Raoul was getting food, and Christine was buying some clothes, Emma began to wonder off. She wanted some cakes, but didn't know where to find any. Walking up and down all the aisles, Emma just could not find any. Her little stomach really wanted some cake, and she didn't know what else to do, so she went outside, and began to walk the streets.

Back inside the store, Raoul and Christine had finished up their shopping. They met up outside and looked at each other, then at one another's side.

"Where's Emma?" They said at the same time.

"I thought you had her--"

"No, you had her--"

"I swear she was with you--"

They gave each other a dismayed look, and they both cried out, "Emma!"


	2. A beautiful place with a strange man

**Okay, here is Chapter 2. The story will now mainly be in Emma's POV. And as always, please read and review! thanks!**

**Chapter 2**

_'Wow I am really hungry,_' I thought to myself.

I had just left the store in search for some food, and was now wandering the streets of Paris. I had no clue where I was going; all I knew was that I desperately wanted something to eat. I passed many people in the streets, and they all stared at me as I walked by. I wanted to ask for food, but my parents taught me to never talk to strangers. Pity. After walking a few blocks, I came upon this spectacular building. It was gold with giant columns lining the front. Its beauty drew me to it, like it was a magnet, and I was just a little piece of metal.

I got to the huge steps, and began my upwards climb on them. There must have been at least a hundred of those dreadful steps, for it took me the longest time to complete them. Finally, I had reached my destination, and began my journey into the unknown; which was a very exciting thought, since I was a child of curiosity.

On the inside, the building was not quite as wonderful as I had hoped. There were cobwebs and dust all over the place; I had never seen anything like it! Around every corner, there were a million new passageways, and all I wanted to get to was some food. Not knowing where to go, I just took the nearest corroder. This particular one was extremely long, and so I picked up my right foot and began to progress. The hallway was filled with candelabras on the sides of the walls, I wondered why this place needed so much light. But the thought quickly left my mind when I came upon a room that was unlike all the others I had seen. It was decorated with maroon velvet, and was outlined in gold. In the center of the room, was a giant mirror. I advanced towards it and traced the engraved gold with my tiny fingers. My hand stopped as I felt a little crack in the left side. I began to push on the crack with all my might, and to my amazement, the whole mirror began to slide open. My eyes bulged at the sight that lay before them: a dark, cobweb ridden corroder, with more candles.

I quickly plugged my nose, for the smell was absolutely horrid. It smelled of must and water. I cautiously stepped into the hallway, but drew back my foot when it hit water. I looked down, and there were puddles all over the place. This time when I stepped into the hallway, I took a giant leap over the first puddle, but didn't; land quite as well as I had hoped. When my feet hit the ground, they immediately slipped, and I thudded to the ground. There was a loud thud, and then the pain slipped in. My eyes began to fill up with tears, and soon I was crying. The sounds of my tears spread throughout the whole hallway, and I'm sure that they even surpassed it as well.

All of a sudden, I hear this whooshing sound, and then there is a pair of black shoes before me. I began to look up, and discovered that it was a very tall man, with a white mask over one side of his face. Never seeing anything like it before, I began to cry more. My butt hurt, and there was a strange man before me, probablyplanning to kidnap me!

"Shhh…" the man said.

My crying subsided for a moment, but then started back up again. This time, the strange man put his hand over my mouth. No one had ever put a hand over my mouth before, and I was at a loss of what to do. So I just sat there, no more sobs, just me and… him. He was looking at me with the most peculiar look I had ever seen. It was a mixture of amazement and wonder, I guess. He opened up his mouth, as if to speak, but then closed it again. Repeating this movement for some time, I began to wonder if this man was crazy. Finally, he started to speak,

"Uhh…" he started. "What are you doing here? And what is your name." He then removed his hand from mouth.

I sniffed and then replied, "I was hungry, and I saw this pretty building, so I came in." I took a slight pause. "My name is Emma."

He gave a slight nod, and then glanced away at the mirror that I came out of. Then he looked back at me and said,

"How did you figure out how to open that mirror?"

"Well, I was fascinated by the gold outlining, and I traced it with my hand and felt a crack. I pushed on the crack really hard," I gave a movement with my hands, "and then the thing came gliding open." The man gave another nod.

"Where are your parents?"

"They were at a store."

"And you just left?"

"Well, you see, I wanted cake and went looking for some. I left the store and then came across this place."

"I see," he said. "And can you remember which way you came from?"

I glanced around and said, "No."

The man seemed to ponder something, and then he stood up.

"Alright, since you cannot remember where you came from, you will have to wait here with me, until I hear word that someone is looking for you." He gave a smirk, like he was leased with himself. Then he looked back down at me.

"Come along," he said to me. "Since you seem to like gold, you will surely be pleased with the place that I live at."

Then he picked me up and we began down the puddled path once more.


	3. Realization

**Here is chapter 3! Finally and Yay! I finally have a reader! Thank you Julia for reviewing my story! Hope you like this chapter.**

Chapter 3

I have no clue why I did not struggle when he picked me up. There was something in his eyes that made me long to go with him; plus he said that his house was pretty. So I did not try to stop him, I easily gave in. Not knowing what was going to happen, or what he was going to do with me, did not seem to frighten me either. After what felt like ages, we finally came to this boat. He set me down in it, then got in himself and began to row with a long stick. For just being pushed by a stick, the boat moved pretty fast. In no time, we were at a large cavern, filled with candles and other lovely things. My eyes widened when I saw that the candlesticks were made out of gold, oh who am I kidding, the whole place was practically made out of gold!

The boat hit the edge of the cavern, and the man stepped out then turned to pick me up as well. But he was too late, I was already up and running over to one of the gold stands. I could hear him turn behind me, but I didn't notice too much. I had already felt the outline of the gold layer over and over again. The gold felt like it was of very high quality! But what did I know. Suddenly, I turned around to face the man.

"What's your name?" I asked

"Erik."

"Oh," I replied. After a short pause I said, "Why do you live down here? And why do you have such wonderful gold?"

"You ask a lot of questions." Was his only reply at first, but then he continued on.

"I am a musical genius and need a lot of privacy for my work." I nodded, and he continued. "Lots of people pay me with gold to hear my music."

I could not tell if he was telling the truth or not, but I did not want to question him further.

Continuing to look at all his unique treasures, I came across a beautiful ring. It had a blue gem in the middle surrounded by diamonds. As I began to turn around to ask Erik about the ring, a gloved hand snatched it from me. He then flung me around to face him and told me to _never_ touch _anything_ on _this_ desk. I was too frightened to say anything, so I just nodded in agreement. Then he softly stroked the ring and put it back into its container, and then into its rightful drawer. After having his back to me, he turned back around.

"I do suppose that you are still hungry?" he asked. I just nodded.

He walked briskly over to a table for two and pulled out a basket of bread, cheese, and grapes. I hesitantly walked over to the table and sat down. Erik handed me a plate with some of the food, and I began to eat it. At first I ate slowly, but then I remembered how hungry I was, and began shoving my face. When I had finished, with my cheeks stuffed with food, I looked across from me to find that he was staring at me with his mouth dropped.

"What?" I asked with my mouth full of food.

"Nothing," he said while looking away. "I have just never seen anyone with such an appetite as you."

I did not know what exactly to say to this comment, so I just swallowed my food and stood up. Automatically when I stood up, Erik stood up as well. I gave him a strange look, for I did not know why he was doing such a thing. My father never did so. Oh! My father! … and mother! I nearly screamed when I thought of them. And then the whole situation hit me. I was lost! I was here with a strange man, and my parents were nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, I started crying. Then I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I turned around.

"What's the matter?" Erik asked.

"I…miss…my…mommy…and…daddy!" I was nearly choking on every word that came out of my mouth.

"Alright, alright." I began to cry louder. "Shh, please don't cry." I did appreciate him trying to coax me, but when he spoke, he just reminded me of my father.

"Okay, uhh, what are you parents names? If you tell me, then I can try to help you find them."

I turned my head and looked into his eyes. '_Maybe he isn't a bad man after all,'_ I thought to myself. I gave a final sniff, and said, "My mom's name is Christine, and my fathers' name is Raoul." After I mentioned these names, the stature of the man began to change drastically. He became stiff and his eyes became hard and dark. After this change in Erik, I was for the first time, actually really frightened of him. He stood up and began to speak in the coldest voice,

"Come, I know exactly where to find your parents."

**The story is not almost over, even though it may seem like it at the end of this chapter and the next, but believe me, it isn't. I will try to update as soon as I can. Again, please review!**


	4. Different situation than what was presum...

**Thank you to all who have reviewed my story! Please keep on reviewing, Thanks! Oh, and to Emily, so sorry for any confusion that you have, here is a little info that may help you out: Emma is _Five_ years old, and yes, she is extremely smart. Erik has _not_ seen Christine yet, he only knows it is her daughter, because , well, how many Christine and Raoul's are there? And I am not going to give away what Erik is going to do with Emma, you'll just have to read and find out: )**

Chapter 4

I did not know how, or why, this man knew where my parents were. Did he stalk them, or something? But if he did stalk them, why did he not know me? I decided not to ask these questions, for I did not want to anger him more. So while he was taking me… somewhere, I kept quiet.

After a short time, we arrived at a house that I immediately recognized. It was my house! I nearly ran ahead of him to go inside, but he held me back. Erik walked me slowly to the side window, and we both peered inside. There was my mom sitting on the couch, wrapped in my dad's arms. She was crying steadily flowing tears. Seeing her like that made my heart break, and I looked at Erik beside me. I could not tell what he was thinking. Maybe he was sad, or angry, I wasn't quite sure. Then he grabbed my arm and pulled me away. I was about to scream, but he covered my mouth, and he tried to pull me again. But I did not want to move. I wanted to stay with my parents. Seeing as how I would not move, Erik came over and picked me up, with his hand still over my mouth.

At that moment, I began to cry silent tears, knowing that I would probably never go back to my parents. I did not know how to take this new situation, but maybe somehow I could get him to take me back home. '_Alright,'_ I told myself. '_I shall try to persuade him to let me go.'_

The walk back to his home was a long and silent one. He did not explain anything to me, or talk to me at all. But I did not really care, he had officially kidnapped me, and there was nothing I could do about it.

We finally got back to his strange home, and he, for the first time, set me down. I did not move after he released me, I just stood there, like a dummy. I sure felt like one. How could I have thought that this man could possibly be nice? I couldn't even see his face! He was always covering it with that white mask of his! Knowing that he was most likely staring at me, I decided not to turn around, or move, unless he talked to me. At last, he did begin speak,

"I have decided not to return you to your parents." I turned around and just stared at him, letting my eyes pierce into his.

"I know that you will probably not like me for this, but this is what your family deserves. To be _lonely_ without you, to know what it feels like to have a part of you missing."

At the time, I had no clue what he was talking about. Why did my sweet parents deserve this? They were the nicest people I knew! But he continued onwards in his little explanation.

"In due time, you will learn to like me, and maybe even respect me. But you are not allowed to try to go see your parents or speak of them. Their names will not be spoken in this household. If they come here, then... who knows what will happen, but they will surely pay a great price." He took a slight pause and the started walking towards a bedroom. "This shall be your room." He walked over to another one. "And thisis mine. You are to never come in here without my permission. Do you understand?" I only stared at him.

It seemed that he was done making his speech, so I stomped off to my new bedroom. I wanted to close the curtain things that hung over the opening, but I did not know how, so I left them up. I got into my new bed, and tried to go to sleep, but sleep would not come. I lied in bed looking up at the ceiling for what seemed like hours. Eventually, I began to sleep, not knowing what tomorrow would bring.

**There's chapter 4 for ya! Sorry it's sort've short, but it seemed like a good place to end it for today. I shall try to have chapter 5 up soon! Please review!**


	5. New Sights

**Here's chapter 5! And welcome to all my new readers! Thanks so much for reviewing. And remember, the more reviews I get, the quicker I update! Enjoy!**

Chapter 5

I groggily awoke the following morning. At first, I did not realize where I was, but then the last night's memories came rushing back to me. All the anger, the sadness, that I had felt had returned to me. I slowly rose from my bed and walked over to Erik. He was sitting at a sort of piano, and scribbling something down on paper. He must have heard me walking, for he immediately turned around and looked at me.

"H-How was your sleep?" he said after a slight pause.

"Fine," I said shortly.

"That's… good."

"Yea. Umm, can you take me home now?"

"I thought we had already discussed this. And the answer is no."

"But, you can't keep me forever! Can you?"

"I shall keep you for as long as I see fit."

"And what is that?"

"Until your parents are nearly dead from mourning over you."

My mouth dropped open at his last comment. He wanted my parents dead? Who…? How…? WHY? I had no clue what my parents had done to deserve this man's hatred, but I did not want to press the matter further. He obviously had his mind set, and there was nothing that I could do about it. Or was there…

I began to think about how I could change Erik's mind. But I just couldn't think of anything. He was so much… bigger, than I was, and was so much older as well. Though I did not know his exact age, I knew he had to be at least 40 years older than me. Suddenly, my stomach gave a gurgle, and I placed my hand over it.

"Do… do you have anything for breakfast?" I asked hesitantly.

"Uh, yes. I do." He paused. "Would you like some?" he replied sarcastically.

"Yes."

He looked at me. "Please," I added while rolling my eyes.

"Of course."

Erik walked over to the familiar table for two and, again, pulled out a basket of bread, cheese, and grapes.

"Don't you have anything else to eat?"

"No, I do not. Now eat up."

"I just had this last night. I am not eating it again."

"Well, it's either this or nothing."

"That's just too bad then. Because I am not going to eat!"

"You must eat sometime!" He spat at me.

I kept my mouth sealed shut, indicating that I would not eat.

"Fine," he said. "You can die. I don't care. You'll probably cause more pain to your parents dead than alive with me." He walked away. "What a shame."

I stared over at him while he went back to his organ. I just couldn't believe this man! If he wanted to kill me, then why didn't he just do it already! I stood up, nearly shaking from my hunger, but then immediately sat back down. Then grabbing his disdainful basket, I began to eat a piece of bread. Erik looked over at me and gave me a smirk. I just glared at him, letting him know that I did not like living here. Though I wondered who would like it here.

Continuing to eat the food, I noticed that the organ had stopped playing. Looking over my shoulder, I did not see Erik at his seat in front of the organ. I looked all around me but did not see him. '_Is he actually stupid enough to leave me alone in his house?_' I wondered. '_Of course I had thought him possibly crazy, but never stupid.' _I stood up from my seat, and began to wander around his home. Not ever having the chance to take the time to look around, I was quite fascinated with all the things that he owned. He had a parlor for his artwork, a little stage set up with dolls on it, his organ, my room, and then… his own bedroom. Of course I remembered that he had told me to never go into his room, but I was very curious.

Pulling up the black curtain that was hanging over his door, I cautiously took a step forward. The room was much bigger than I imagined. My eyes started at the front right corner and moved slowly around the room, taking in everything. But when I saw the back left corner, I nearly screamed. What I saw there was something that answered some of my prying questions, but also raised many others.

There was Erik, sitting down and facing the right side, with the right side of his face exposed! I had never wondered why he wore that white mask, but I thought that it was just one of his quirks. But now… this… this image that was before me. Oh what a sight it was! The right side was deformed in all ways imaginable. His eye was dropped, his face was scarred, and he barely even had a nose! At first the sight appalled me, but then I looked into his one eye that I could see, and it was filled with sorrow and depth.

I was about to leave the room, for I did not want him to turn around and see me there, but I was too late. When he saw my small form in the doorway, his eyes filled with fear, then anger. Quickly, he pulled his hand up to cover his deranged face, and started walking towards me.

**Sorry if it wasn't the longest chapter, but I wanted a little cliff hanger... Well, Review: )**


	6. Discoveries

**Thank you all for reviewing, hope you like this next chapter! Oh, and this is for Emily, I do not know if I will have a ransom note or not, but I do know that there will be an encounter between Erik and Raoul later on in the story. But you'll just have to keep on reading and reviewing to find out what else happens: ) But if you MUST know a little more ( I will not tell you the whole story!), then you can email me (Go under my profile and click on email). Enjoy the chapter everybody!**

Chapter 6

I was unsure of what Erik was going to do, but his eyes – his whole stature – told me that I should be very afraid. And I was. I did not know what else to do, so I just slowly turned around and then ran out of the room. Once I was about ten feet away from his room, I had nowhere else to go. I shifted my weight a couple of times, before deciding to run into the pool of water that lied before me. Being as short as I was, I could not wade myself very far into the water.

It was not so much as being afraid of the way his face looked, but more towards what he was going to do to me. He had told me to never go into that room, and I did.

All of a sudden, I heard footsteps walking across the stone floor behind me. Slowly turning around, I looked upon my pursuer, who had put back on his white mask. For a moment, we both just stood there. Erik was looking straight at me, I could feel it. But I did not want to look at him, frightened of what I would find again in his eyes.

Then I heard him walk into the water, and towards me. My whole body stiffened as I saw his legs get closer to my own. Finally, about a foot away from me, he stopped.

He lowered his face to mine and said, "Look at me," quietly at first, but then he screamed it at me. "LOOK AT ME!" I raised my head, but kept my eyes closed.

"What? Can you not look at the monster before you? Can you not bear to look at my repulsive _face_?"

I said nothing.

"Why… Why did you come into my room when I specifically told you not to?"

"I don't know," I whispered.

"You don't know?" he paused. "YOU DON'T KNOW! How can you not know? You must've obviously gone in there thinking something! Probably thinking 'Oh let's go into his room and try to get a glimpse of the monster that mommy told me all about. Let's get a good look at his deranged face!"

He pulled off his mask and flew it onto the ground as I flinched at his sudden action. But when I saw his mask floating in the water, I managed to pull myself together and look at him. I recognized all I saw, but this time, there was more fear, than anger,in his eyes�I think. After a few seconds, I couldn't take it any longer, and I had to look away.

"See? You cannot even look at me for longer than a few seconds. Only one person ever could, and that was _your_ mother. But she soon betrayed any trust that I had in her."

I desperately wanted him to go on, hoping that he would tell me why he wanted my family dead, but he did not.

He lowered his voice to a whisper and told me very coldly, "Just go to your room. I need time to think about what to do with you." I did not move. "I said GO!" He pointed his finger at my room.

I walked over to my room and went inside; glad that Erik did not kill me, though it would have been so easy for him to do. I lied in my bed for what seemed like hours. In my room there wasn't much to do. I had the bed, a nightstand, and a little closet. There were no toys, or anything to play with. Not thinking that this was a good time to bring up the no toy issue, I did not mention anything to Erik.

A few more hourly minutes passed by, and I was still bored. After lying there for about ten more minutes, Erik entered. When he came in, he had cleaned up his looked, and now had the same appearance as he had at all the other times.

"I have thought it over," Erik said quietly. "And you are still to stay with me. Even though you have now seen my loathsome face, this may actually help you to understand why I am doing this-"

I interrupted him. "Does this mean that you are to explain why you want my mother and father dead?"

"No, that will be a story for when you are older. There is much that your parents did not tell you about their past, and a lot that you will never know."

"What? You know my parents?" I pondered him. He only nodded.

"Now," he said. "For coming into my room your punishment will be –"

"You can't punish me!"

"As long as you live here with me, you shall live by my rules!"

"But—"

"No buts. As I was saying, you are to stay in your room until supper, and then after you eat, you are to return here."

"But there is nothing to do in here! There are no toys or—"

"That is the point. You need discipline." And with that he left me, all alone in this horrible room with absolutely nothing to do.

Just when I thought that I would die of boredom, something shiny on the wall caught my eye. Across from where I was sitting, there was something that looked like a little opening. I walked over to the gold knob, and touched it. Instantly, the wall opened up and before me lay a passageway, like the one that I had found behind the mirror. At first I was hesitant on whether or not I should go down it, since Erik told me to stay in my room, but after some thought of what other things I could do, I stepped easily into the hall.

After taking only a few steps, the ground beneath my feet felt awfully strange. In an instant, the ground opened up and I fell down and down not knowing where I would end up.


	7. Alone Time

**Thank you all for reviewing! Sorry for the delay on this chapter, but my sister had her baby and so i was a little busy with that. But the baby is healthy and it's a cute little girl! Yay! Well, enjoy this chapter! And review!**

Chapter 7

"Oww," I groaned. "Where am I?"

I looked around and all I saw was a dark, dank cellar. I slowly stood up, but then immediately fell back down. My whole body ached. Looking up, I saw how far I had fallen. Only seeing a little patch of light, I realized how bad of a situation I was in. The room here had no passageways, no windows, no doors, absolutely nothing. The walls were wet, which made them impossible to climb.

Not knowing what I should do, I just sat in the middle of the room and put my head on my knees. I wondered if Erik would notice that I was missing. And if he even did, would he come looking for me? He had just punished, so would he want to come save me? Being in this predicament gave me some time to think over things. Like what Erik had looked like, what my parents were up to, if I would ever see them again.

Thinking about my parents gave me a sad feeling. I had not thought about them over the past few days, and had no clue how they were doing. The last time I saw them, my mother was a mess. But were they not even looking for me? At the time when I saw them, it seemed to me like they were just moping around. Here I was, about to die, and they weren't even looking for me!

"Fine," I said to myself. "I'll just stay down here and die. Nobody will miss me."

After telling myself this a couple of times, I was content with being away from my parents. Abruptly, I heard faint footsteps coming from above me. Looking up, there was shadow at the top of the chamber. I stood up, hoping that is was somebody here to save me, but then the shadow left, and I was again alone.

As I sat back down on the dank floor, I heard a _clunk, clunk. _Then the floor on which I sat began to rise and rise, bringing me closer to the light at the end of the tunnel. Then the floor was part of the hallway at the top, and I hesitantly walked off. After I was safely off of the mechanism, it fell back down to its rightful place and the hallway became whole again.

I heard footsteps coming from behind me and I briskly turned around to face Erik. His face was set in a hard line and only looked at me for a second. He walked passed me and back towards my room and I just followed a few steps behind.

When we got back to my chamber, Erik walked over to the side wall and said, "Come here."

I did not know what exactly to do, so I walked slowly towards him.

When I got close enough to him, he said, "What were you thinking when you went down that hall? Or when you opened the mechanism?"

"I – I was bored, and the knob over there was shiny so –"

"So when you see something that you like in other people's homes you just – use it?" He chuckled. "I would have thought that your mother would have taught you better manners."

"She did teach me good manners! I just don't see why I have to use them here! This is not my home and you're –"

"What? What am I? A monster? A lunatic? What! What were you going to say!" As he said this he shook me fiercely.

"Nothing," I mumbled.

"Oh really? Nothing you say? Well --"

At this moment I started to cry. I did not ever mean to upset him, but his house was just so amazing!

When Erik heard me start to cry, he stopped shaking me. He stood up straight and in a low voice told me that I was to stay in here and to not press any switches or contraptions that I may see. And with that he left me alone again.

As soon as I was sure that he was gone, I began to frantically look around for another button or anything that looked like I could push it. I looked and looked, but it was to no avail. There were no other switches that I could find beside the first one that I came across. But I did not dare to venture down that forsaken hall again. Disappointed, I went over to my bed and lied down. I was hoping to go to sleep, but sleep did not come. I was there in my bed for what seemed like forever.

Just when I was about to get up and look around some more, Erik came into my room.

"Come," he said. "It is time for dinner."

"I do not want any of your food."

"Well you shall eat it or… or I will put you back in that chamber that I rescued you from earlier."

"You wouldn't do that," I scoffed at him. "You may not be the nicest person, but you are not cruel." He was glaring at me. "Are you?" I asked him as I began to back away.

He looked away from me and said, "No, I would not do that. But you must eat something!"

"Fine."

And so I walked after him to his little table and sat down to begin to eat the bread. But instead of pulling out his usual basket, he got out a bowl of fresh greens. I must've had quite a startled look on my face for Erik said,

"I thought that I'd try to get a good meal for you to eat and this was the best I cold do."

"But, how did you get all this?"

"Remember? I am a musical genius and people give me… things."

This time, I knew he was lying. He was not getting paid, and I knew it. But not wanting to say anything, I gratefully took the food and began to eat.


	8. Getting Comfortable

**Sorry for the semi-long wait, butI was pretty busy withschool and dance.But my sister's babies name is Kayleigh for all of you who want to know. Thank you all for reviewing and here is the next chapter.**

Chapter 8

The meal was delicious. The food was fresh and a nice change from stale bread. After I was done eating, I gave Erik a slight thank you and went off to bed.

In the morning, after my much needed sleep, I awoke to music playing softly. It was the most beautiful music that I had ever heard! When I first heard it, I did not know what exactly it was, but then I remembered the organ that Erik had. Then it hit me – _Erik was playing the beautiful music_. To me, it was ironic on how such a grumpy man could play so wonderfully.

I walked into the other room, but as soon as I did, Erik stopped playing. He turned from his seat and looked at me.

"How did you learn to play such wonderful music?" I asked him.

"So you like my playing?" He paused. "I studied many musical books in the library here at the Opera House, and I basically taught myself how to play."

"Wow, maybe you are a genius."

"Of course I am. What have I been telling you?"

His arrogance did not please me, but I did not want another argument; there had been too many of those in this house.

"Would you like to learn how to play a song?" Erik asked.

"Really? You would be willing to teach me?"

"Sure," he said. "But are you a quick learner, I do not have much patience and—"

"Of course I am a quick learner! I was the best at learning to read and write, and"

"Alright, alright, I shall teach you. Come here," he gestured to me.

I came running over and sat down next to him on the bench. It was closest that I had ever been to him, and it almost made me uncomfortable. But then as I was sitting next to him, I noticed his scent, and he smelled wonderful. Maybe it was a mixture of vanilla and firewood, but I was not certain.

"Now," Erik began. "Do you know anything at all about music?"

"No, not really," I said sadly.

"Alright, then we shall start from the beginning. But as I said before, I do not have patience."

"I know, but I am still willing to learn."

"Now then, let us begin."

And so Erik taught me all he new about music, and there was so much! It was much more complicated than I thought. There were the notes, the keys, flats, sharps, reading sheet music, and so much more. My head could not take in much more, and I would probably not remember much of it either. But I did not want to disappoint Erik, and I decided to try my hardest to remember everything I could.

"Next, we have…"

"Wait," I said.

"What? Is something the matter?"

"I think that we've have learned enough for today," I said while slightly rubbing my head.

"Why? Have I done too much?"

"Yes, I think so. I do not think that I can learn much more today," I said quite sadly.

"Oh…" Erik said while lowering his head. "Can we continue tomorrow then?"

"Oh yes! I do want to learn so much more, but I can not learn it all in one day." I looked at Erik. "Do you think that I will ever be able to play was well as you?"

"If you work really hard over many years, then possibly. But as for now, you have much to learn."

I nodded my head and rose from my seat.

"Shall we continue tomorrow at let's say… 2 pm?"

"Alright," I agreed. "Not like there's anything else to do."

"Yes… I do suppose that this house is not children oriented. Maybe I could get you some toys or something? What do you like to do?"

"Well," I began. "I like dolls, and coloring."

"Good," Erik said. "I have all that here."

"Really?" I asked, quite astonished.

"Oh yes." Erik stood up and walked over to one of his vanities. He pulled out a little doll out of one of the drawers. The doll had brown curly hair and a black and yellow dress on. Then he went over to another desk and got a couple pieces of paper and some paints.

"Wow," I said. "I had no idea you had all this. And this doll is so beautiful." I played with the hair.

"Yes, it is, isn't it?"

"How did you get it?" I asked.

"I made it."

"Really? You really can do everything, can't you."

"Yes. Come, it is time for supper."

I went over to the table and sat down, anticipating another wonderful meal like the one we had yesterday. I was deeply disappointed when he pulled out that basket of his full of bread and cheese. Erik noticed the sad look on face and said, "We cannot have good dinners every night so eat up."

I looked over at Erik, who had a hard line set on his face. Since he was so serious about me eating this horrendous meal, I took some food out of the basket. I saw a smirk cross his face when I took the food and I knew he was pleased that I was surrendering to his rules. But the only reason why I obeyed him was because he was giving me a place to stay and saved me a couple of times. If he had been anyone else, I would have been having a ton of crazy fits. But in Erik's house he ruled with a hard tongue and an iron fist.

After finishing my supper, I went into my room and played with the doll. I did not close the black curtain, for I was finally feeling safe here.

**I need my readers opinion for the next chapter. I am either planning on going ahead 5 years or 10 years in time. Because the time needs to move forwards a little, and I do not want to stay at 5 years old. So when you review either say 5 or 10. thanks!**


	9. A Bonding

**Thank you all again for reviewing! if any of you ever have any suggestions or requests, feel freee to state them in your reviews! Enjoy chapter 9!**

Chapter 9

_5 Years Later_

"Emma! Emma!"

"Yeah?"

"It's time!"

"I know! I 'm coming!"

I walked out my room and over to the organ that Erik was sitting at.

"You're late," he said.

"I know, sorry," I replied.

"Just don't do it again. Now, do you remember the song from yesterday?"

"Yes, I do. For the most part, at least."

"Then play," Erik said shortly.

I placed my fingers on the keys and began to play a piece from _Aida._ It was one of the easier songs, and I was not yet ready for the difficult songs, Erik told me. When Iobjected to his statement, he would only shake his head. Half way through the song, my fingers stopped playing.

"Why have you stopped playing?" Erik asked questioningly.

"I just thought of something," I replied.

"What could be so important as to stop you from playing?"

I could tell that Erik was annoyed with me, but I did not mind. "Well, tomorrow is my 10th birthday and…"

"So what?" Erik said sarcastically. "I never did anything for my birthday, so why should you get anything?"

"Well I just thought that…"

"Well what you thought was wrong. You are not getting anything and that is final."

"Fine," I said. "But _real_ parents would have let me do something."

Erik just smirked, and I knew what he was going to say. "You don't even remember your parents, so I am the only thing you have. And your parents haven't even looked for you, so they obviously don't care!"

"I do too remember my parents!" I screamed back at him.

"Oh, really? What were their names?"

"I… umm…"

"See? You don't remember them. Now, come back and play again."

I did not go sit down. He knew that he had hit a hard spot for me, so I decided to do the same to him.

"At least I am not a _monster_ that everybody hates!"

I was sure that the comment would make him mad, but I did not fear him. I knew that he would never to anything to harm me. This was something that was probably not the best thing for him, because I could say anything that I wanted.

"You are right," Erik said weakly. "At least people do not scorn you or laugh at you." Erik took a pause. "You may go to your room, we are done practicing for today." He rose from the bench and looked away from me.

My mouth hung open. I was stunned. Never before had he not yelled at me when I said something of this accord. At first I did not know what to do. But then I set my mouth into a hard line. He was just playing games with me. He wanted me to pity him and run to him for forgiveness. Well, he was not going to get that from me.

I turned slowly away from him and went to my room. Taking out my doll from its drawer, I sat down on my bed.

"I am not sorry…" I whispered to myself. "I am not sorry…"

I was trying to make myself believe this, but deep down, I did not mean what I had said. Over the past few years, Erik had shown me great kindness when he did not have too. He was not a monster, and I knew it, but he did not. He believed this so deeply that I nearly pitied him. I wanted to go out there and say that I did not mean what I had said, but then… What? What made me so sure that this was just one of his little games? What if I had really hurt him?

I stood up from my bed and marched out into the other room. I looked around, but I did not see Erik. _'Where is he?_' I thought. He never went outside, never in the whole time that I lived here. Hanging my head, I knew this was my fault. Just as I was about to turn and go back to my room, I heard footsteps from behind me.

Quickly turning around, I saw Erik standing there. At first I did not know what to do, but then I tossed all my thoughts to the side. I ran up to him and gave him a hug. I had never hugged him before, and my hands only reached to barely the middle of his back.

"I am so sorry," I said to him. "I did not mean what I said."

"No," he said. "You were right. I shouldn't have said that about parents. So…" Erik reached into a brown paper bag that he held at his side and pulled something out. "Here," he said while handing a little black box to me. "I gave this to your mother, but she returned it to me."

I opened up the box and saw the ring that I had found earlier. It was a very beautiful ring, with the blue stone and diamonds.

"It probably won't fit yet, but you can hang on to it until you are older."

"Thank you, Erik," I said.

I do not think that anyone had ever said "Thank you" to Erik before, because he suddenly hugged me. His hands pressed against the brown curls on my head. Then he pulled back and walked over to the organ. He sat down on the bench and began to play a song that I had never heard him play before.

It was a very beautiful song, well written. Only part way into the song, he stopped.

"Did you write that?" I asked.

"Yes,"he said softly. "It's called _Music of the Night_. I wrote it for your mother."

"How did you know her?" I asked

"That… is a story for when you are older."

"Alright…" I said, quite disappointed. He would never talk about my mother, and whenever I did get him on that subject, he always changed it again.

"Well, I think that it is your bedtime," Erik told me.

"But..." I objected.

"Come on, go to bed."

"Fine," I said while walking in the direction of my room.

"Thank you again for the ring," I said before entering my room.

I could tell that Erik was smiling behind me. Lying in my bed, I began to think that living here would actually turn out all right.


	10. Angry Pity

**As always, I thank all my reviewers! I am so glad that you guys enjoy reading it! Here is chapter 10, sorry if it is a little short...**

Chapter 10

Groggily, I awoke in my bed. I did not know what time it was, but I was sure that it was not yet morning. Not knowing what woke me up, I looked around my room, but I did not see anything. Suddenly, I heard footsteps coming from above my head.

"Erik?" I called out softly.

No answer came. Soon I was sitting up in my bed with the sheets pulled up to my neck. Erik was not here, which made me all alone… _in the dark. _Was it him that was walking above me? I was not sure. '_That's all it is,_' I thought. '_Erik is just walking around.'_ Just as I had lied back down, a hand shook me.

"Come, Emma," a voice said. "We must go."

"Erik?" I asked again.

"Yes," he replied. "Now come along."

"Where are we going?"

"Up."

"But… why?"

"Someone is here."

I got up out of my bed and before I could do anything else, Erik took my hand and pulled me.

"Why are we in such a rush?" I asked. My mind was not working properly, and I could not seem to function. Why were we leaving?

"We must not be found."

Erik took me over to his boat and dragged me in with him. Hastily, he grabbed the pole and began to row towards the gate. We were floating smoothly along when we took an abrupt turn to the left. I had not left Erik's house since I had come here which made everything new to me. Along all the walls there were faces of different animals. Mainly, there were lions and eagles. Though I did not question Erik, I wondered what the animals meant.

Finally, we came to the end of the lake and Erik picked me up out of the boat. He rushed me behind a wall and made me be silent. I heard footsteps coming from the other side of the wall we were behind. When the figure came into view, I did not recognize him, at first.

The man paused just a little after where Erik and I were. As I studied him more, I began to recognize him little by little. When I had finally figured it out, it was too late. The man hung his head and turned around and left. Just as I was about to run after him, Erik seized me and held me back.

When Erik was sure that the man had gone, he lead me back to the boat and we started back to his home.

"I thought you said that they didn't ever come looking for me," I whispered to Erik. He said nothing. He knew that I had recognized that man to be my father. Though I did not remember his name, my mind and heart knew it.

"I thought that if you knew they had looked for you, you would not want to live with me anymore," Erik said softly.

"Of course I would rather live with my parents outside than down here in this… this dark place," I told him coldly. "Why did you so desperately want to keep me?"

"I enjoyed the company."

"That's it? That's all you have to say for yourself?"

"I do not have to explain myself to you! You are only a mere child! You know nothing about me, about my life, about my reasons! Do not ever speak of what you do not know!"

After his last words, I kept to myself. I wanted to know more of him. About him and my parents, their history. But he would never tell me, I was only a child, after all.

The rest of the boat ride was ridden in silence. Neither of us wanted to speak to one another. When we did get back to Erik's house, I went directly to my room and stayed in there for the rest of the morning. I wanted no organ lesson today for I was too tired. Erik had pulled me out of my bed for no reason at all. Why did he take me all the way up there when he knew that my father would never even come close to his house? I shook my head. How did I ever get into this type of situation? How did I go from living with my nice parents to living with this deranged man? This man who lived in the shadows, this man who wore a mask… how did it come to this?

I went over to my desk and opened one of its drawers. I pulled out the little box that held the ring that Erik had given to me. Opening the box I looked down on the beautiful ring and took it out. Walking into the other room, I went over to Erik. He was sitting at the table that we normally ate our meals at.

"Here," I said while holding out the ring. "I want nothing of yours." I dropped the ring into his hand and walked back towards my room. Behind me, I heard a peculiar sound, like a man crying.

Turning around, I looked at Erik. He was bent over, clenching the ring in his fist and weeping. His head was bent down so that he could feel his fist with the ring. It was a very sad sight for one to behold. At first, I pitied him, but then I turned back around and went into my room. I was not going to feel sorry for my kidnapper, the one who stole me from my parents. Just as I was about to close the black curtain that blocked my room, I looked back at Erik.

As I watched him, my heart sunk. What had he gone through to deserve this? All he ever wanted was someone to love him. '_No,_' I thought while shaking my head. '_I will not give in to this and comfort him after what he was done.'_ And with that I closed the curtain and I saw no more.


	11. Unforgiving

**Sorry for the long wait to all my reviewers/readers! But I was quite busy with others things and... I was lazy. : ) Well, here is chapter 11, enjoy!**

Chapter 11

Sitting in my bare room, I was getting quite bored. I was pacing back and forth with a frown on my face. The only thing that I wanted to do was to just get out of here. I wanted to run away back to my parents, but Erik was always here… or was he?

I slowly peeked my head out of the black curtain and looked around. My brown eyes wandered all over the room, but never found Erik. Quietly, I stepped out of my room and started sneakily walking towards the boat. In my head, I had my whole plan panned out. I would steal the boat and start rowing in the direction that Erik took me in before. Once to the bank of the lake, I would try to follow where my father had gone. My plan was perfect or at least I thought so.

When I had made it to the boat, I quietly got in. When that was accomplished, I reached for the pole that Erik had always rowed with. But when I could not quite get it, I got frustrated. I lunged myself as far forwards as I could, but only my fingertips touched the black pole. I tried one more time, rocking my body forwards, but I soon regretted that. My fingers got even closer and when I tried to move the pole, it went toppling over. The pole landed with a loud crash, and I was sure that Erik would hear it and come catch me.

When I heard the footsteps behind me, my whole body just froze. I became as stiff as the pole that I was trying to get.

"What are you doing?" Erik asked briskly.

"Isn't it obvious?" I said sarcastically.

When I did not hear Erik answer, I stomped around to chew him out some more, but before I could say anything, Erik was already beside me and had picked me up. I was suite astonished, for I did not even hear him move! He moved as quickly and quietly as a cat would.

"Put me down!" I screamed at him.

"I will not! For if I do, then you will surely run away!" Erik said with his teeth clenched.

"Any sane person would try to run away!" I replied while my legs were trashing about. When I saw that we had passed my room and Erik's room I was quite furious.

"Where are you taking me!" I managed to say in between legs kicks.

"To a place where I am certain you cannot escape!"

"And where would that be?"

"Right down there," Erik said with a sneer and pointed his finger. My eyes got wide with terror as I looked down an awfully dark stairway.

"You can't put me down here! I will go insane!"

He whirled me around to face him. "Then if you are insane, you will not have the mentality to run away, now will you?"

I shrieked at him and started to pound him with my fists, but he still carried me down the steps. When we got to the bottom, I had stopped all my resisting. Erik bent to put me down, but I would not let go of him. My surroundings were horrendous. All around me it was pitch black, but when my eyes got adjusted… Everywhere I looked, there was some sort of mechanism. I was not sure what they all were for, but I was sure that they were not used for fun and games.

"You must let go of me, and stay down here where you will not escape," Erik told me.

"I will not run away! I won't! But please do not make me stay down here in this awful place!" I pleaded.

"You promise not to run away?" he asked.

I just nodded.

"Alright," Erik said submissively.

I was so thankful to be leaving that place. I wanted to ask why he had all those devices, but I was too afraid. When he brought me back to the surface, he sat me down in my room, then left. He did not say one word to me, just walked casually out of my room. I wanted to call him back, but the words would not come. So I just slumped over to my bed and sat down. Soon, I was bored again.

After thinking it over for a while, I decided to go out into the main room. I was not sure if I was going to say anything to my captor, but I figured anything would be better than sitting alone in my room. Then I realized something, what I could not handle for only a few minutes, Erik had to endure for his whole lifetime. If I were in his place, I probably would have kidnapped me too. All he wanted was someone for company, if he had had that before I came here, then, most likely, he would not have kidnapped me.

As I hesitantly approached Erik, he turned to face me, but would not make eye contact.

"Listen, Erik. I am… uhh…. sorry for all that I said. I was just disappointed that you did not tell me that my parents did come looking for me."

He abruptly stood up and walked away from me.

"What?" I said stupidly. "You are not even willing to be rational about all this?"

Erik turned around and looked at me, but did not say anything. After glancing over at me, Erik turned back around and continued back to his room. I stood there looking after him with my mouth open. Just when I had finally come around to partially understanding him, he would not even give me a chance.

"Fine!" I yelled after him. "You can just stay in your room and pity yourself! Just liked you've done the past 30 years!" I expected this to anger him and cause him to come back and talk to me, but that did not happen. Angrily, I thrashed towards my room, and threw myself upon the bed. If he did not want to talk to me, then I would not talk to him either.


	12. New Day and a Birthday

**Thank you all for reviewing my story. And welcome to all my new readers (and reviewers)! So glad that you all like it. This chapter is longer than my other ones, which, I hope, will be a good thing. Oh! and if you guys want to... you can go and review the other chpaters I have for this story or my other poem for POTO. But only if you want to. Well hope you enjoy this chapter!**

Chapter 12 

Waiting in my bedroom, I had expected Erik to come charging in at any moment, but he never came. I had been sitting there for ten minutes, and still I saw no sign of an angry Erik. He would usually never let me get away with any rude comment I said to him, but he did not seem to mind my last words. Wondering what could be the matter with him, I stalked into the other room. When I did not find him there, I took my gaze to his room. I was not sure whether or not I should go in there, with my last experience of so long ago, but I felt that he and I needed to talk.

Stealthily I walked over to the entrance of his room. I slowly inserted a little bit of my head inside of the room. I saw Erik standing by a desk looking at some sort of drawing or painting. Following his gaze, my eyes fell upon a poorly painted picture of a woman with curly brown hair in a white dress. I knew that Erik probably had painted that picture, but I was unsure of who it was; she did look familiar though. Taking my head back out of the room, I took a deep breath and stepped into his room.

At his first sight of me, Erik looked shocked, but that shock turned quickly into anger.

"What are you doing in my room? I thought I told you to never come in here again." Erik said coldly.

"I just thought that maybe we could use a little talk." my voice said shakily.

"A talk? Why, I guess I could manage a talk. Would you like to talk about how you tried escaping or how you mocked me? Or you can choose from all the other dirty things you did. Go on take your pick."

"This is not fair. I said that I was sorry."

"You show no signs of being sorry," he sneered back at me.

"I thought that trying to talk to you would be a sign of that, but you are still playing childish games with me."

"Why shouldn't I? You are only a child after all."

"Just because I am a child does not mean that I cannot think as an adult does, and figure out all their tricks." I said angrily. Erik was pushing all my buttons, and he knew it too. He always had a way to get to me, and he always would accomplish it, too. Even though he and I did not always get along, I did not like him being angry with me.

"And even if I was not intelligent," I continued. "You raised me that way. I bet if my parents would have raised me, I would be quite bright."

"Your parents," Erik exclaimed, "were dumb enough to think that they could out smart me! That, young Emma, was everyone's biggest misconception. Thinking that they could outsmart me, the one who practically built this place, made it a true masterpiece, was one of their truest mistakes. And now, you too are thinking the same way. Are you not?" Erik asked while bending himself down to my level.

I did not answer.

"Ah, no answer, I take it? You cannot beat me at my own game, Emma." He took a thoughtful pause. "I do not like treating you this way, but you have left me no choice."

"I said I was sorry…" I said on the verge of tears.

"Yes, but you do not respect me. Now go. It is past your bedtime." I turned to leave. "And, Emma, do not ever come back into my room again, unless I tell you that you can do so."

With tears filling to the brim of my eyes, I turned and fled his room. Once I was safely out of his room and his sight, I began to fully cry. I did not know what had made him so angry with me, and I wanted him to feel better, I truly did. But he was so closed on the idea of people actually being nice to him, that he did not think for one moment that somebody could.

I walked over to a miniature stage with wooden figures on it. One of the characters looked like Erik, another looked like the woman he had painted, and there were some other people dressed in black. I picked up the one that resembled Erik and observed the wooden figure. It was very precise in the makeup of Erik, and it surprised me that Erik was this good at building things. Looking around the platform, I found a couple of wooden blocks and picked one up. Assuming that this was what he made the figures out of, I got an idea on how to cheer up Erik. Glancing around some more, I discovered a utensil that I could possibly use to carve the block with.

With my newly found items, I trailed off to my room, expecting to create a masterpiece that even Erik would appreciate. I knew that my task would be a hard one to complete, but I knew that I had to try.

Sitting down on my bed, I began to etch out my project. The wood was considerably harder to carve than I had previously presumed. I sat there for a while, but my project was not coming along. As I put the wood down and stared at it, I realized that I could not do this. The wood did not look anything like it was supposed to. Tossing the wood down onto the floor, I hung my head. I wanted to do this for Erik so badly, but my skills were not allowing me to.

Since it was getting late, I decided that I should go to bed. Tomorrow would be a big day for me and I wanted my sleep.

I awoke the next morning slightly afraid of the day ahead. Not knowing if Erik would be nice to me today or not, I did not exactly want to go into the main room, but I knew I had to at some point. Stiffly rising from my bed, I hesitantly went into the other room.

Erik was sitting at the organ, about to play a song, when I walked out there. At the sound of my footsteps, Erik quickly turned his head to look at me. My head was slightly cocked to the side, wondering if Erik knew what day it was for me.

As he turned back to face his organ he said, "I suppose you are wondering if I remember what day it is. And yes, I do. It is your birthday, and oh, you must be so excited."

"I would be more excited if I knew that today would be a pleasant one between us, but I suppose that that will not happen." As I said this I began walking over to the little stage that I had seen yesterday.

Without even watching me go over to the stage, Erik said, "Do not touch that. I spent a long time carving those figures."

"I tried to carve one last night," I said quietly. "But it was extremely difficult."

"Yes, it is difficult. Not everyone is as talented as I am. Obviously, you are not even close to my skills."

My breath quickened and a frown spread across my face. I wanted to retort to his comment, but I knew that it would only make things worse, and I did not want that.

I took a deep breath and said, "Can we at least try to get along today, since it is my birthday?"

"I guess… that we can try to work something out… but only if you treat me with more respect," Erik said.

"Me? I have tried over the past few days to be nicer to you, but you would not accept any of it! Now you want me to treat you with more respect? How can I when there is no more respect that I can give?"

"Once you figure out a way," Erik said slowly, "Then we can talk." And with that he stood up and went into his room. I was about to follow him, but remembered what he had told me before.

I stood in that same spot for some time, thinking of what I could do. Then I glanced all around me and noticed the organ sitting there. I walked stiffly over to it and sat down on the wooden bench. I placed my shaking hands down on the keys and began to play the piece from _Aida_ that Erik had taught me before. I had never played the piece without Erik before, but I put my fears aside and tried to play it as best as I could. Luckily, my memory served me well and I played the song nearly perfect. By the time that I was done, Erik was standing a couple feet behind me listening.

"That was not that bad. At least for the first time playing it on your own," Erik said almost approvingly.

"Thank you," I replied quietly. "Do you actually think that I was not horrible?" I asked raising my eyes.

"Yes, you were certainly not horrible, but of course you still have much learning to do."

"Do you mean to say that you are still willing to teach me? And that I am not completely awful?" I asked with hope in my voice.

"Yes, I will still continue to teach you, but you must treat me better."

A smile spread across my face, and my body began to fill with joy; _I had actually done something that pleased Erik._

"Now," Erik said, "let me show you how to really play." I stood up from the seat and moved aside to let Erik play. He casually placed his hands down onto the keys and began to play leisurely. I was not sure what song he was playing, but it sounded wonderful, nonetheless.

When he removed his hands from the keys and looked over at me, I was sure that my birthday might turn out to be an all right day.


	13. Arising Questions

**Chapter 13 is here! Yay! this chapter is sort've short, cuz I had a writer's block and didn't know what to put... But hopefully it will still be all right. Oh, and in my next chapter I will be skipping ahead another 5 years, because Emma needs to be fifteen in order for the following events to occur, and for Raoul and Erik to have their confrontation : ) which I know everyone is looking forwards to. But after that, do not fret, for the story is not almost over, because dun dunna dun! New character! yay! **

**well, enough of me rambling on, and giving away my story... sohere is the next chapter!**

Chapter 13

For the rest of the day, Erik and I did not do too much, but at least it was all pleasant. Even though he did not give me a present or anything, he was still nice to me and I to him. When I was about to go into bed, Erik, surprisingly, called me into his room. Hesitantly, I walked over to the doorway.

"Yes?" I called in.

"Come in here please," he said, almost happily.

When I was a good way into his room, he walked over to me and said, "Hold out your hand."

After I had done so, I felt something hard and cold drop into my hand. I opened my eyes, expecting something spectacular to be sitting in my hand, but all I saw was that ring that Erik had given me before, but I had returned. Looking up and glaring at Erik I said, "I told you that I did not want anything of yours."

"I know," Erik replied hesitantly, "but I would like it if you would hold on to it, until you are willing to wear it."

"But I will never be ready to wear it," I said coldly. "If it was not good enough for my mother to wear, then I will certainly not wear it either." Putting the ring between my thumb and forefinger, I held out the ring for Erik to take, but he never did. Instead he gave me the most hurt, cold look that I had ever seen on his face.

"You will accept this ring again. I advise you to do this for your own well-being," Erik said through clenched teeth.

"Are you threatening me?" I scoffed at him.

"I guess you could say that."

"What right do you have to threaten me? There is no reason for threatening!"

"Oh, isn't there? Being the rejected by the same blood, the same ring, (A/N: this little phrase I got from Emily, thanks! Hope you don't mind!) I'd say that I have perfect reasoning to threaten you. But you would not understand the parallels of my life, and so you do not know."

"Then explain them to me," I said simply.

"I have told you a million times that you will not understand! That you are still too young!"

"I am not! I believe that I am perfectly old enough to understand your life! There cannot be much to it, can there? All you've ever done is self pity yourself and live down here in this… cave!"

"I have, young lady, done much more during my life time than just live down here in this God forsaken cave, as you call it. I have traveled the world, seen things that you have only dreamed about, but will never get the chance to do! I have gone through things that neither you nor any other person could ever comprehend! And then your mother, oh yes, your mother, came along and for a brief moment, I thought that there was some good in this world, but she soon threw that theory back in my face. She destroyed all the dreams that I had ever had, and left me here to _self-pity_ myself, as you said before. Now you are perhaps wondering what all I have done with my life, and of course, your biggest, most persistent question, _what happened between your mother and I_." Then Erik gave a slight chuckle. The wretched man actually chuckled! "But these things, my dear Emma, that I have done, are not for your young ears!" He leaned over down to my level and looked me straight in the eyes and would not let me look away. "But… I have long turned from my _murdering_ ways."

He accented the word _murdering_ like it was another one of his little threats, but I took no heed to it. But still, his words struck in me like a knife. I knew that he was a little a mad, but I had never imagined him to have traveled the world, or even, murdered anyone. Slowly, I began to back away from him, but he quickly grabbed my arm and made me stay where I was.

"Why do you want to leave so soon Emma?" He said mockingly. "I thought that you wanted to know about my life?" He sneered. "Or is too much for you to handle?" I tore myself away from his murdering grasp. "Now do you see, Emma? My life is too complicated for someone as young as you to understand." He stood up from his hunched position. "You may now run along and go on to bed. And, Emma, no more questions about my life. As I have said many times before, I shall tell you when I think it is the right time."

I hung my head in defeat and trailed off to bed. Even though his words had shocked and frightened me, I felt like I understood him a little bit better than I had before. After I had gotten to my room, and into my bed, I snuggled my head into my pillows.

Surprisingly, I was not nearly as mad at Erik as one might think that I was. Knowing even the little bit that Erik had told me about his past, made me wonder even more what he had been through. He may have thought that he frightened off all of my pestering questions, but he inflated them. I wanted to know, even more than before, what happened between him and my mother. Was it love? Murder? Music? So many questions burned inside my mind, but I tried to put them aside so that I could sleep. Also, I would not ask Erik these questions that I had, at least not yet. As he had said, he will wait for the right time to come along. And when he finally decides on that time, I will be ready. I shall know exactly what to say, what to ask, and find out all that I need and possibly more.


	14. Awful Stalkers

**Thank you all for reviewing my story! It means sooo much to me! And welcome to all my new readers, glad to have ya! Oh, and for any of you who are interested, I will be posting another story soon here on fanfiction. Not sure when, but I have ideas for another story. Haven't gotten around to actually writing ths story yet, but I am planning on doing so tomorrow (Sunday). But do not worry! I will still update this story once every week, sometimes twice, at least when school gets out, hopefully twice. Well, enough of me rambling on... Here is chapter 14! Enjoy and review Please! Ya guys are my motivation, I need you: ) lol**

Chapter 14

_5 years later_

As I looked at myself in the mirror and smoothed my dress, I heard Erik call from the other room.

"Almost ready!" I answered.

I took one more quick glance in the mirror, and walked out to where Erik was standing.

"Finally!" Erik said. "You are going to be late!"

I shook my head. "Shops stay open for a while. There is no possible way that I could be late."

"Oh, alright," Erik gave in. "But do you remember all that you're supposed to get?"

"Yes, Erik," I said, almost getting annoyed with his overproctective-ness."You must calm down. Everything is going to be fine."

"You are not going to…"

"No, I will not get lost, I will not talk to strangers, I will not steal… I remember everything. I shall be just fine."

I walked over to the table and got my handbag, which contained the money and the list.

"I shall be back as soon as I came," I promised Erik. He just gave a slight nod of his head.

I piled myself into the boat and began to row towards the long hallways of the Opera House. There was much that I had to get, and I had to be back in time for dinner; Erik would start to worry if I wasn't.

As I got to the end of lake, I looked over my shoulder one last timeto the place that I had learned to call home. Over the past few years, things between Erik and I had gotten pretty heated, but eventually, he learned to trust me little by little. When I was 13, he actually let me wander around the whole Opera House with him. I had never really seen the whole thing before, and its many catacombs boggled me.

Then when I was 14, he let me walk around the Opera all by myself! I got to look down all the passageways that I wanted to, all the rooms that I wanted to, it was quite an adventure for me. Now, I was 15, and here I was actually getting to _leave_ this place. I had not been above ground since I started living here. But the only reason Erik was letting me go up was because we needed some more food and Erik needed some fabric for—wait? What did he need the fabric for? I did not know, so I just shrugged my shoulders and continued walking down the long tunnels.

At last, I finally got to the main level of the Opera House, which was completely covered in dust and cobwebs. Walking along the covered floor, I began to imagine what this place must've looked like when it was still in use. In my mind, I pictured gold everywhere, somewhat like Erik's home, and the roof painted with murals of angels and such. Closing my eyes, I pictured myself in that magnificent place, dancing at one of its infamous Bal Masque's. Oh how I longed to be dressed up and dancing among the different colored faces in masks.

As I opened my eyes and looked around me, I was saddened at what this Opera had become. Hanging my head, I again began walking towards the door and into the outside world.

When I got through the door, the cold wind hit my face and my neck, and I hugged myself to ward off the coldness. I glanced all around me, looking for some sort of fruit stand. When I found the little shopping alley full of loaded carts, I started hustling towards it.

I approached the alley full of carts and people, my face was flushed and I was nearly shivering. All I wanted to do was get these errands done as quickly as I could, before I froze to death.

I passed each cart, looking for the items that I needed to get. When I saw something that was on my list, I picked it up and then paid for it. When I was eventually done, I grabbed all my bags and headed back to the Opera House. As I was walking I bumped into a man with short hair and a long coat on. In a way, he looked like someone familiar, but then I said pardon me and continued on my way. I glanced behind my shoulder and noticed that the man was still looking after me.

I hurried my pace when I noticed that he was following me. As I kept looking over my shoulder and seeing that man following me, the more I longed to be back with Erik. Finally, I reached the Opera House doors and went inside, closing them behind me. My breath was coming in harsh gasps from my hurried walk back.

I composed my stature and began walking back down to Erik's lair. Suddenly, I heard more footsteps coming from behind me. Turning around, I saw once more the man from the alley. Quickly I turned back around and nearly ran down the passageways to Erik's home. Hearing the mans' footsteps still chasing after me, made me hurry even faster.

At last, I reached the boat and got into it and started rowing, leaving the man standing on the bank. He cast a quick glace at the water, then back at me. Without thinking he jumped into the lake and began swimming after me. Letting out a little scream, I started rowing faster and faster. Ahead, I could see the gateway to my home for the past 10 years. Seeing the gate open up for me, gave me new hope. After I rowed underneath the gate , I practically jumped out of the boat and ran over to Erik, who was sitting at his organ.

"Hurry!" I yelled at him. "Close the gate!"

With a startled look on his face he walked over the lever and the gate began to close.

"Why did I have to close the gate so suddenly? Erik questioned.

"There… is… a man… chasing me," I replied, gasping inbetween my words.

"What?" Erik roared. "Who is this man that chases you?"

I was just about to reply, when I heard splashing coming from the now closed gates. Erik and I turned our heads over to the sound of water, only to see that horrid man who was chasing me. Now, instead of being clean and composed, the man was wet, and panting for breath.

"Emma?" The man called out.

I looked over to Erik, who was casting the most hateful glare at the man. It was a look of disgust, hatred, and a wantingfor murder. After I studied Erik's face, I turned my glance back over to the man in the water.

"Who are you?" I asked. "And how do you know me?"

**Hahaha! cliffhanger! I know you guys can guess who it is! Come on, give it a guess in your reviews! I will update on... Tuesday! If 5 of my reviewers can guess who it is! Monday if 7 people can! whoo-hoo! Rewards for you guys! Yay**


	15. Lesson of Previous Happenings

**Yay! Today is Tuesday and I actually updated on time! hahaha. well, thank ya'll for reviewing, and here is your long awaited (yeah right) new update! And this is my longest chapter... EVER!**

Chapter 15

Staring at the strange man, I was deeply anticipating his reply. But when it came, I had no clue what to say.

"You do not recognize me?" the man said hurtly. "I am your father! And this wretched man kidnapped you and took you from me!"

I was too much at a loss of words to answer, so Erik did it for me.

"I did not kidnap her!" Erik growled. "You were dumb enough to let her wander off by herself! Maybe if you would have kept an eye on her, she would not have ended up here."

"If all you say is true, then why did you not return her to me? She must've told you who here parents were, did she not?"

I finally spoke up. "Well you never came looking for me! Don't you think that when I came here, I tried to go back home? But after awhile, nobody came for me, so I gave up on you!"

My father hung his head, then looked up with desperation in his eyes. "Let me in."

"Do you honestly think that is a good idea? Do you not remember what happened last time you came into my lair? I do think that you doing that made the situation much worse, if I do recall." Erik said mockingly.

"What are you talking about?" I questioned Erik. "What do you mean _the last time he was here_? Do you mean to tell me that he has been here before?"

"You haven't told her?" Raoul asked. "How could you not have told her? Were you too afraid that she too would choose to come _back to me,_ like _everybody else _did?"

"You shall regret those words, Monsieur." Erik said softly as he walked over to the mechanism that would open the gates. He pulled on the lever and the gate began to slowly open. Raoul walked stiffly underneath it, but was soon stopped when a rope flew at him. But instead of wrapping around his neck, the lasso was blocked by Raouls' hand.

"Thought that you could catch me off guard again? Oh no, I came better prepared this time!" Raoul exclaimed as he pulled out a steel sword.

With a smirk on his face, Erik too took out a long sword.

"I see that you are not quite ready to give up yet, are you?"

"I beat you once in a sword fight and I can beat you again!"

"That was just a blunder of mine!" Erik said hotly. "And it will not happen again!"

Erik lunged himself at Raoul with his sword out, but missed slightly. Raoul brought up his sword, ready to plunge it into Erik, but Erik was quicker and blocked it. They both brought their swords out of the lock and swung at each other once more. As they were sword fighting, I was watching in awe. I had no clue what could have gone on between the two. And what did they mean by sword fighting _again_? When had they ever done it before?

My thoughts were quickly interrupted when I saw that Erik had Raoul by the neck and was squeezing the breath out of him. But before Erik could kill him, Raoul brought a knee up and kicked Erik in the stomach, which made him stumble backwards. Then Raoul picked up his sword and continued onwards in his fight with the phantom.

"I will not lose again," Erik whispered so that no one could hear it.

Swiftly he elbowed Raoul in his face, which gave him a bloody nose, and made him fall onto his back and onto the cement slope. Erik was about to plunge his sword into Raoul when I yelled, "Stop!"

Erik did not put his sword into Raoul, but instead brought it down to the edge of his throat.

"Tell me," Erik asked, "why I should not kill him here and now." He turned his gaze towards me. "Why?"

"Because he is my father! And even though you obviously hate him, he does not deserve to die."

"Oh but he does, my dear Emma," he replied while giving more pressure onto the sword. "You have no clue how much he does deserve to die."

"Then will you tell me?" I said almost too happily. "Will you finally tell me what is going on here? How you know my mother and…"

But I did not get to finish, for at that moment, a woman was walking through the lake and towards us. Since the gate was not yet lowered, she walked right into Erik's lair. At first, she did not say anything, but just took in the surroundings. When her eyes landed on me, they filled with such longing and love.

"Mother?" I asked questioningly.

"Oh, Emma!" she yelled as she ran towards me and embraced me in a hug.

"How did you know to come here?" I asked.

"I guess that I always knew that you were here," she said slowly and quietly. "But I just never wanted to actually believe it."

When she had finished, she looked over at Raoul and Erik. Erik had turned as stiff as a stone, and was staring intently at my mother.

"Christine!" Raoul gasped out.

"Please, Erik…" she started.

"It is too late for pleading," Erik stated.

"I am sorry, for everything and…"

"I said it is too late! Too late for all your useless pity, your pleads, they mean nothing to me now!"

Tears began to fill my mothers' brown eyes, but she quickly blinked them away.

Slowly approaching the three of them, I asked slowly, "Will you now please tell me what happened? Since all of you are here?"

"Alright," Erik said submissively. "I guess now would be the perfect time to relive my demise." He took a slight pause. "But only, if I can tell my story first."

I looked at the other two and they simply nodded their heads. And so, with the approval, Erik began in his story.

"It all started when I saw a young girl come to the Opera House. Her father had just died, and she was training how to sing. She would come down to a room and pray every night for her father and that her Angel of Music would come to her. When I heard of this 'Angel' I knew what I had to do. I came to her in her sleep and in her dreams and sang to her. I made her believe that I was her Angel of Music. Eventually, her voice progressed and she became actually quite good. When she turned 18, she became one of the chorus girls in the operas, but I wanted her to be so much more; I wanted her to be the lead. And so I began a series of events that would cause her to be the only one left that could possibly sing the lead. And I succeeded. Since I succeeded so well, I made a boy fall in love with her: the Vicomte de Chagny. When he came to her, she forgot all about her Angel. She denied me and betrayed me. I gave her all I had, my music, my voice, I even gave her her own voice. But still, she loved him, and not me. Desperately, I searched for a way to make her love me. Then one night, I had finished my opera that I had written specifically for her voice, _Don Juan Triumphant_. I gave it to the managers so that they could put it on in their opera house. When they did so, I knew that I would have to play Don Juan, otherwise, all my hard work would have been for nothing. I succeeded in getting on the stage, but at the end of the play, when I had Christine completely entranced, she did something that I did not expect. She tore off my mask and everyone saw my abhorrent face. I paniced, I did not know what to. Looking all around me, I noticed the chandelier. Taking out a small pocketknife, I cut the ropes holding up the chandelier and it came crashing to the ground. I heard the screams of the many people below, but it did not bother me. Grabbing Christine by the waist, I took her down through a secret trap door through the stage. From there, I lead her down to my lair, asking her many times why she did what she did, but she would not answer me. Finally, we reached my lair and I made her change into a wedding dress; I had planned to make her my bride. But then," Erik continued, pointing at Raoul, "he came along and stood outside the gate, pleading to be let inside and for me to let Christine go. So I let him come inside, actually, I bid him welcome. But he was not ready for my lasso, and it caught him around the neck. From there, I tied him to the gate and made Christine choose between us. I told her that she could either live the rest of her days with me, or I would kill her lover. At first she did not reply, but then she walked up to me and she…. And she kissed me. I had never had that sort of experience before, and it touched me. So I saw that the whole thing was pointless, that I could never hurt Christine or anyone she cared about. And so I let the two of them go. I let them leave, just like that. They rowed away in my little boat, but not before she came back and gave the ring back to me. Yes, the same ring that I have been trying to give to you, Emma. I was heart broken. The only woman that I had ever loved, and the only one that had ever given me a little chance, was gone. I went around my home and broke all the mirrors, so that the mob could not find out where I had gone. I left through a secret passageway, and did not return to my home until I was sure that the whole opera house was empty and no one would ever return."

When Erik ended, he was looking down at his feet, and possibly crying silent tears, but I was not sure. All I knew was that his story really touched me, and I was crying myself. I could not make peace with the fact that my mother would have left such a tormented man; a man that actually needed her. But she had left him. I looked at my mother and saw that she too was crying. I wanted to know more of what Eriks' past was like, his whole story. But I knew that now was not the time to ask.

Still looking at my mother I asked, "Why did you leave him?"

She turned to me, with the tears streaming down her face and replied, "The truth is that I did not love him, I loved Raoul and wanted to be with him. I would have done anything so that Raoul could live." She turned her glance to Erik and continued on. "But I am so thankful to you Erik, that you let me leave with Raoul. It made me so happy, and I was just glad that you had finally found the compassion to do that."

Erik cast a very quick glance up at Christine, but did not say anything. Raoul was no longer on the ground, but was instead now standing silently at Christines side. Erik looked up at the three of us, standing side by side.

"I guess that you now would like to go home with your parents?" Erik said absently.

I looked at my parents and then back at Erik. Slowly, gently I stepped forwards, towards Erik.

"Actually," I said, while keeping eye contact with, "I would be honored if I could stay here… with you." After I said this, the most surprised look came upon Eriks' face.

"Do… do you really mean that?" Erik asked.

I just nodded. Then I turned towards my parents once more.

"May I?" I questioned.

"Oh no," Raoul exclaimed. "I did not come all the way down here, risk my life, just so that you can stay here with… him."

"Well," Christine said reasonably, "maybe we can all work something out."

We all pondered for a few moments thinking of something that everybody would be pleased with. Finally, I spoke up, having a wonderful idea.

"I think," I began, "that I have an idea."

"And?" everyone said in unison.

"How about if I stay with Erik for two weeks, and then go back and live with my parents for two weeks. Does that sound reasonable enough for everyone?"

When nobody answered, Christine decided that she should speak up.

"That is a marvelous suggestion, Emma. Right, Raoul?"

"I guess that that would work out just fine," he admitted.

I looked over at Erik, who had not said anything yet.

"Erik?" I questioned.

He nodded his approval.

"Then I guess that I will start my two weeks here," I declared. Nobody moved. "That means that you two can leave now and come back when it is your turn."

"Alright," Christine said as she came over and gave me a hug goodbye. "I shall look forward to your stay with us."

"Me too," I agreed.

"Emma, it was wonderful to finally see you again," my father stated, while he too, gave me a hug. "I apologize if I startled you by chasing you down here."

And with that, my parents left, and I did anticipate my stay with them in two weeks. After I saw them safely leave, I turned around to face Erik, who had a huge smile on his. I had never seen him smile like that before, but it made me put on just as big of one.

**Well, that is the end of my story, thank you all for reviewing... JUST KIDDING! I still have a lot to go in my story! So keep on readin and reviewin!**


	16. Reopening

**Yay! I am so glad that you all like my story! And don't fret, for I still have much to cover in this story. Well, here is chapter 16, enjoy! And don't forget to review, ya'll are my motivation!**

**Oh, and one more thing, just I little bit of clarification. Some of you were wondering why there was no one in the opera house except for Erik and why the opera closed down. Well, I based that part of my story on the ALW version, because the opera burned at teh end of the movie... so I made it so that they closed down the opera because of that and the opera ghost. Hope that helped and sorry for the confusion!**

Chapter 16

It had been one year since that day when Christine agreed to let me live with the Phantom for two weeks. Never thinking that my mother would let me live with Erik for two weeks, I was quite surprised at her response. I did wonder at why she did choose this, but when I asked her, she only said that it was because he had already done a pretty good job of raising me and that he deserved somebody to live with him. This response did make some sense to me, but still… her answer to me living with Erik still wondered me.

For the past year, my two-week plan did not work out perfectly. For the first month, the idea was fine, but then my parents changed it to one-week with Erik and three weeks with them. At first this change did anger me, but eventually, I got used to it. I still continued my organ lessons with Erik and my mother taught me how to sew. Of course I did wonder why Erik never taught me, since he sewed all his own clothes, but I figured that him teaching me just never crossed his mind. Other than that, nothing else had changed over the past year, except that I was now sixteen.

Today I was on my way to Erik's. It was just the end of my three-week term with my parents, and I was ecstatic to get to see Erik again. As I got closer and closer to the Opera House, I noticed that something had changed in the appearance. Then when I was close enough to see it perfectly, I saw that there was construction going on. Wondering why in the world there would be any sort of construction going on here, I entered the Opera House.

My eyes widened in awe as I looked around me at the new interior. The inside was all refurnished and redecorated in its divine gold. I had never seen any place quite like this and this image far surpassed anything that I had ever dreamed it would be like.

I moved slowly through the room and eventually I made it down to the cellars. Everything down here still looked the same and I was relieved when I saw the familiar boat docked at the ramp. I got in and began the long path down to Erik's lair. As I neared the gate and saw inside, I noticed that Erik was quite busy. He was moving all over the place and reshuffling papers and moving different items.

"What are you doing?" I asked Erik as I walked over to him.

"I have lots… busy…opening…" he was not speaking in complete sentences and every new word confused me even more.

"Slow down Erik!" I exclaimed. "Now tell me, slowly, what's going on here?"

He looked at me, but his look was far off. "The Opera is reopening. A new owner bought it and they are starting the opera back up again."

"Oh my…" I said quietly. "How am I going to get down here? There will always be people up there and…"

"What!" Erik nearly yelled at me. "You are only worried about you? What am I going to do? What if they come back down here and look for me to make sure that I am gone… Or what if the new owner doesn't care about "the Phantom" and won't obey his orders…. Or…"

"Erik!" I said while shaking him. "Everything will be alright! No one will come down here. Even if they do suspect that you are down here, they are too afraid of you to look anyways!" Once I was sure that he had calmed down a bit, I continued on.

"Now, back to my situation. If you still want me to come down here, we are going to have to find some other way. For people will always be up there and they will wonder what I am doing and I cannot tell them that I am here to visit the Opera Ghost!" I took a breath and still continued on. "Now, do you have any ideas? You area an architect so maybe you can think of something."

"Yes, I do think that I have an idea." As he said this, he led me over to the back of his home and opened up a door in the floor. "Now," he explained to me, "if you follow these stairs, it leads to a tunnel. Once you go down the tunnel, you will take your first left and then you will see more stairs. Go up those stairs and they will take you up to an alleyway on the side of the Opera House." He gave me a hard look. "Do you understand?"

"Yes," I replied.

"Good. Now I want you to go in the route I just explained to you so that you can see where the tunnel comes up. Then take a look at your surroundings, maybe mark the door with something little and unnoticeable, so that you will be able to find it when you come to visit. Then once you have done that, come back down here and we can start our lessons for the day."

I nodded my head in understanding and went down the stairs.

The tunnel that I descended into was dark and stank. All around me it was pitch black, except for the light that extended form the torch I was holding. I was walking slowly, so that I would not trip in any of the cracks in the stone beneath my feet. Taking the first turn on my left, just like Erik told me to, I came to another set of stairs. I ascended up this flight and when I got to the top I ran into a wooden hatch door above me. Pushing it open, I came out in an alleyway on the side of the Opera House.

I took in my surroundings and then searched around me for something that I could mark it with. At first I wondered why no one had ever seen this door before, but when I looked at it against the wall, I figured that it did blend in pretty well. After a few minutes of searching, and still not finding a good marker, I just decided to tear a strip off of the bottom of my skirt and tie it onto the knob. Luckily, my skirt was brown and it too blended with the door and the wall. Standing back and looking at my piece of skirt, I was quite satisfied with myself.

Deciding that I should get back down to Erik, I descended back down the stairway and headed back to Erik's home.

"I did it," I said as I walked back into the room.

"Good, good," Erik replied, though I do not think that he completely heard me.

"Erik," I began, "You must not worry about the Opera reopening. They would not even think of opening it back up again if they did not truly believe that you were gone. So just do not even think about it. No one will see me enter or leave, and you should try to live as you normally would."

"Nothing is normal about the way I live!" Erik told me. "I live in a cellar underneath an old Opera House for God's sake!"

"I live down here for two weeks too, so I guess that I am not normal then, either?"

"Oh," Erik said with a swoosh of his hand, "you know that I did not mean it that way."

"Yes, I know. But honestly, Erik, do not worry about this, alright?"

"Alright," Erik said while clearing his throat.

"Then, now that that's settled, how about we start my lesson for the day?"

I went over to the organ and sat down, ready for my anticipated lesson. Soon Erik joined me and began teaching me one of his own songs that he had written. He said that he wrote it because of me, and that I was his inspiration. I was quite flattered by this and it was a well-written piece, as well, so I graciously accepted his offer of teaching me it.

As we sat there, we were quite unaware of a visitor that was approaching my skirt scrap and began pulling it gently, only to reveal a door to a world unknown to the outside.


	17. Unknown Past

**Thank you all for reviewing! Oh, and I would've updated earlier, but I was waiting for some of my reviewers to review, since they always do. but did they ever review? Noooo, so I decided that I should just update anyways... So remeber! My wonderful reviewers, I do pay attention! lol. So here is the next chappie enjoy!**

**Chapter 17**

As I sat there playing the song on the organ, I noticed that Erik had left my side. Even though it did not seem that I took heed to this, I did wonder why he got up. Usually while I played, Erik would always sit by my side as my hands flowed along the ivory keys.

Once I finished the song, Erik had not returned to my side. Glancing all around me, I finally spotted Erik standing by the trap door that I had gone down earlier and saw him peering down inside.

"Erik," I asked, "what in the world could you possibly be looking at down that hole?"

"Shh," Erik replied while still looking down the stairway.

Peeking my curiosity, I wandered over to the door to also look down it. When I got over to where Erik was standing and peered down the hole, I finally realized what Erik was so worried about.

_There were footsteps coming down the tunnel_.

In my surprise, I grabbed Erik's arm as I continued to look towards where the footsteps were coming from.

"Who do you think it could possibly be?" I whispered to Erik.

Erik did not reply, but only continued to stare down that staircase. I looked over at him and noticed that his hand had gone directly to his lasso, which he always carried around, just in case Raoul showed up and tried to take me back home. Turning my gaze away from Erik and back towards the tunnel, I noticed that the footsteps were getting louder.

Erik stepped slowly away from the opening and closed the door. Following his shift, I also stepped back away from the door. After wondering why he closed the door, I realized that he did it so that the person would not run away when he or she saw two figures staring down at them.

Quickly shooting a glance over at Erik, I noticed that he had his lasso in his hand and was ready to get it around the neck of whoever came through the door. His grip tightened as the door began to slowly open. Since we were on the backside of the door, the person whose head peered up through the door did not notice us.

Just that quick, Erik flung his lasso around the neck and pulled the person to face us.

The shocked and horrified face that we saw was that of a woman. She had red curly hair that was tied up on top of her head. Her oval face was rather beautiful, pale, but beautiful. I think the fact that she was girl shocked both Erik and I.

When I realized that Erik was still choking the woman, I cried out, "For God's sake, Erik! Don't kill the poor woman!"

As Erik turned to look at me, he also loosened the lasso's tightness, but still kept it so that the lady could not move.

Shaking my head unbelievably at Erik, I walked over to the woman and got the lasso off of her neck. Hastily she backed away from us while holding her neck.

"Who are you people?" she managed to say through her gasps of breath.

"The question," Erik replied with a sly smile," is not who we are but who you are, Madame."

"I," the woman declared proudly, "am Evelyn, the owner of _this_ Opera House, which _you_, seem to be illegally living in."

At her statement, I knew that she had said completely the wrong thing. How dare she say the _he_ was living in _her_ opera house? This was his!

I was not at all surprised at the way that Erik responded. "_Your_ Opera? I assure you, Madame, that this building belongs to me! And since you seem to be the new owner, all of your actions belong to me as well! You obey my orders, my demands, or it will cost you." Erik gripped is lasso.

Evelyn seemed to be appalled by Erik's answer as much as he was with hers. "What! I bought this Opera House with money, and I will not have anybody give me orders, especially those who live underground! I advise you to leave before I call the authorities."

"And what will you tell them?" Erik mocked. "That you have a man living underneath your opera? They will not believe a word you tell them. They will just think that you are some crazy old woman!"

"Old? I am not old. I am only 40!" After she had calmed herself down a bit, she continued on. "And no, I would not tell them that there was just some man living here, I would tell them that I have found the _Opera Ghost_."

With those last words, I knew that Evelyn had sealed her fate. Within seconds, I knew that I would witness the death of a woman. But to my surprise, the woman broke out into laughter. I stared at her with my mouth agape. How dare she be laughing? How could anybody laugh at a time like this! When I looked over at Erik to see his reaction, I was even more surprised.

_He was smiling_.

"Erik," the woman yelled ecstatically. "It is fantastic to see you again! I did not think that you remembered me, with that spiel of ours going on so long!"

"Why, how could I ever forget you? You helped me… accomplish so much." Erik replied.

Evelyn laughed heartily. "I suppose that you could put it that way."

"Wait," I said while shaking my head, "how do you two know each other? This doesn't have to do with my mother again, does it Erik?"

"_Mais non_, my dear Emma. This goes back much farther than Christine. Evelyn helped me to do something awhile back. I am not particularly proud of that happening anymore, but she was a good deal of help to me at the time."

When I realized that he was not going to tell me anything I asked, "Are you going to tell me what happened?"

Erik glared at me. "Of course not, Emma. You would shame me if I told you, and your mother would be most upset about it, for she does not even know about it."

I nodded my head in understanding. "One of the great mysteries of the Opera Ghost, I see?"

He only nodded his head.

"Come, Evelyn," Erik said. "Let me show you my new home."

I stared after them as Erik showed her everywhere around his lair. In my head, I was going over every possible way that this Evelyn could know Erik and he know her. Of course there were many parts of Erik's past that I did not know, so I concluded that she was from some distant part of his life.

"And here," Erik said proudly, "is Emma's room." He turned towards me as Evelyn peered inside my room. She was just about to go inside when I yelled out, "Do not go into my room!"

"Oh my," Evelyn responded while quickly leaving my room. "I do apologize. I should not have gone in there without asking."

"Of course you should not have! What kind of person goes into someone else's room without permission!" As soon as these words left my mouth I instantly regretted them.

_I had done the same thing, with Erik's room, that I was accusing Evelyn of doing._

Because Erik did not reply, I supposed that he saw the guilty expression on my face and decided not to say anything.

"Here," I said, trying to redeem myself, "it is nearly dinner time, why don't I prepare something?"

"That would be stupendous, Emma," Erik agreed.


	18. Betraying Thoughts

**Wow! I am finally updating! So sorry for the long wait for this chapter! I had HUGE writers block, I seriously could not think of a thing to write... But I finally got something, well obviously. **

**Chapter 18**

We all sat at Erik's table and enjoyed my meal, which was bread with cheese and green salad. During the time of the meal, nobody said a word. Evelyn looked up from time to time at me then at Erik, but I just keep my eyes on my food; I didn't want any contact with her.

Finally trying to make conversation, Evelyn said, "So Emma, how did you get to live here?"

I didn't reply; I just kept looking at my plate.

"Now that is rude Emma. You must reply when someone speaks to you," Erik told me.

I put my fork down, folded my hands and looked at Evelyn. "Well, you see, I was lost and Erik found me. He has raised me since I was five."

"Oh, I see," Evelyn said. "And who are your parents? Where are they now?"

"You ask far too many questions for my tastes," I replied before getting up and leaving the table.

"You have not been excused, Emma!" Erik roared.

"I can excuse myself!" I yelled back. "You are not my father!"

Erik glared at me with his eyes gleaming, but did not say anything. Tearing his gaze from me, he said, "No, I guess you are right. But you still need to show some respect to our guest."

"If you would please excuse me, Evelyn, I am going to my bed now," I said, trying my hardest to sound sincere. After Evelyn gave a slight nod of her head, I turned on my heel and stalked towards my bedroom.

"I do apologize for her, she can be a bit … sarcastic and rude at times, but she means well," Erik whispered to Evelyn, once I was safely out of hearing distance in my room.

"I know adolescents can be hard at times, Erik, do not apologize," Evelyn coaxed as she put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"Yes, they certainly can be," Erik agreed.

As Erik and Evelyn were talking, I was secretly listening in my room. He thought that _I_ was hard to live with? What about him? Always moping around feeling sorry for himself and living underground and hating my father, and the list just goes on! Inside me, I could feel the anger began to swell and expand by every second

All I wanted to do was go out there and yell in their faces and say how could you think that I was impossible to live with?

'No,' I thought as I turned my back on them, 'if you do that, then you would just be proving them right.'

I stalked over to my bed and got underneath the covers. I could feel the brims of my eyes begin to fill with hot tears, but I struggled to keep them from falling. Turning on my side, my mind began to think about a lot of things. What will I say to him tomorrow? What does he think of me? Why am I living down here? On this last thought, I pondered a little more on. Why _am_ I living down here? I hold no obligation to him to stay here!

Shaking my head, I tried desperately to clear my mind of these horrible thoughts, but to avail. They still burned hot in my head and they would not leave. Erik had Evelyn, he did not need me anymore. Now he had another human being to care for him and keep him company, I was no longer of any use.

Quietly, I rose out of my bed and tip-toed over to my doorway to see if Erik and Evelyn were still awake. Since I could not see or hear them, I figured that they were indeed asleep.

Continuing to tip-toe, I walked over to the gondola and got inside. Remembering something, I got back out of the gondola and made my way to Erik's workplace and got a sheet of paper. At least I am telling him why I left; I still have that much respect for him. Picking up the quill, I began to ponder on what to write, how should I put what I want to say.

Then the sentences began to form in my head and I wrote them down as quickly as I could. Rereading what I put, I nodded my head in satisfaction of the letter and placed it on the organ, where I knew Erik would find it.

Taking one last look around the place that I once called my home, I hung my head and turned once more towards the gondola. Once I had gotten into the boat, I reached my hand over to get the pole, and gratefully grabbed it so my hands would stop shaking.As I rowed the boat underneath the gate, I took one more look at Erik's home, lathered in gold and holding so many memories. It was hard to turn myself away from it all, but I knew that I could not stay; I was not needed. With my face set in concentration, I continued once more down the waterways.

As I rowed, I passed many spots that held more memories for me to think back on. The place where I saw my father for the first time in ten years, the entire place was where I had met Erik fro the first time and asked him so many questions. I hung my head as the tears began to flow down my face. Angrily, I swiped them all away and pushed the memories out of my head.

'I will not give in to this,' I thought as I tried to row harder. All I wanted was to be out of this place, away from the memories, away from Erik, away from his music, everything. Finally I got to the bank and nearly tripped over the boat for I was trying to go so fast. Running the entire way, I eventually got to the main doors. Right when I got outside, I had to abruptly stop for there was construction everywhere.

I kicked my foot in the air. How could I forget not to go this way because of the construction? Hurriedly I looked around me to make sure that no one was working. Once sure that there was nobody, I took a huge sigh of relief and worked my way through all the construction, getting farther and farther away from Erik and his home.

**Sorry that this chapter is sort've short, but at least it's something, right? Well, hope you enjoyed it now REVIEW!**


	19. Mazerderan Palace

**Hey! I updated! That wasn't too bad of a wait, was it? Well hope you all enjoy this chapter, it was really hard for me to write! I am running out of motivation and ideas, so if any of my wonderful reviewers can muster up any suggestions, then please do tell! Don't forget to review! Thanks!**

**Chapter 19**

Erik awoke the next morning in his bed, finding it hard to remember all that had happened last night. He rubbed his hands over his face and managed to get out of bed. He remembered a woman coming but who it was… Evelyn! He remembered now, his old friend had now become the manager of his Opera House. A sneer spread across his face, for he knew that this was a superb turn of events. With someone he knew personally running this place, they could do everything that he wanted! They would show his Operas, and cast who he wanted.

Quickly he rose out of his bed and went to go tell Emma of this wonderful turn of events.

"Emma!" he called outside of her room. When he heard no reply, he stuck his head inside her doorway and called her name again.

Complete horror struck him as he saw that Emma was no longer in her bed. His eyes widened and his heart nearly stopped as he gazed upon the empty bed. Turning away from the sight, he went around his home calling her name, but still he heard no reply.

Behind him, he heard a woman's voice. "Erik? What is going on? Why are you yelling so much?"

"Emma… she is no longer in her bed and I can't find her anywhere," he replied as he felt his heart pounding in his chest.

"Well have you looked around the Opera House? Maybe she went exploring?" suggested Evelyn.

"No, no. She wouldn't do that. She learned not to wander in my domain many years ago. She would not be foolish enough to do so again." Erik paused. "Did you hear anything from your room last night? Anything at all?"

"No, I am sorry Erik. I did not hear a thing."

Erik strode over to a stand and grabbed his cloak, preparing to go out and look for Emma.

"You're going outside?" Evelyn asked, shocked. "But, you haven't been up there in, in… such a long time! Are you sure that this is the best decision?"

"I have to go find her. And I have been outside, just not around... people."

"Well then I am coming with you," Evelyn said firmly as she went to put on a coat.

"No," he replied just as firmly, if even more so. "I cannot permit you to go. I have a feeling that I know where she has gone, and you should not come."

"Fine," she gave in while going to put away her jacket. "I shall just stay here and go through all your things."

Erik gave a murderous glare towards Evelyn's direction and strode over to her in two quick steps.

"Alright, I shall bring you above ground. But you cannot go where I am going; it would be rude and impermissible to the people there. I shall only be your escort to your home, work, or wherever you would like to go."

A smile spread across the girls face as she excitedly got into the boat docked at the edge of Erik's lair. Dejectedly, Erik too got into the boat and took off towards the upper part of the Opera House. But just as soon as he had gotten one hundred feet, he stopped the boat and turned it around.

"What are you doing?" asked Evelyn.

"We cannot go that way, too many people. We shall take the route that Emma uses to come and go, and the place that you happened to come across my home."

"Oh yes," agreed Evelyn. "I remember now, and I completely agree with your decision."

Erik sighed. "No matter how much to warm up to me, my dear, while you are running the Opera House, you shall obey my commands."

She looked up at Erik with an innocent look on her face. "Why, Erik, I would ne…"

When Erik shot another glare, Evelyn shut her mouth and gave Erik a pleading look, but Erik was not paying her a thought, for he was focusing on Emma. If she was not where Erik thought she was, he did not know where else to look. He hurriedly got out of the boat, pulling Evelyn, and opened up the trapdoor revealing the tunnel that would lead them to the outside.

Right after they had gotten inside the dark tunnel, Erik once more began to pull Evelyn along, for he wanted her to go at his fast pace, and not one her dreadfully slow paces that she loved to do. Within moments, they were opening up the hatch that would take the Phantom of the Opera to the cruel outside world that he had grown to loathe. Once they were outside, Erik immediately draped his cloak over the right side of his face, so no one could see the mask that he was wearing underneath.

They set off on their quest once more, and walked for awhile, before Evelyn began to complain about her feet hurting. So to make her be quiet, Erik grumpily flagged down a carriage and ordered the driver to take them to the place where they wanted to go.

The drive down to Evelyn's home was completely silent. Erik was busy with his worried thoughts about how Emma was doing and why she had left, while Evelyn was contemplating how they had first met.

FLASHBACK

The last time when Evelyn had seen him was when she was in school, studying to become a performer, and he was the strange man that took refuge in her building. She was twenty at the time while he was thirty. Nobody knew much about him and everyone knew not to ask any questions about him, until the one fateful day when Evelyn had bumped into him in the hall. She quickly gave him a 'Pardon me, Monsieur,' and then she was going to go on her way, but he had stopped her.

"You are Evelyn, am I correct Mademoiselle?" The man said with his melodic voice.

"Y-Yes, I am she."

"Your dancing is becoming very… exquisite. And I congratulate you on that, but can you do anything else?"

"I am sorry, Monsieur, but I do not understand."

"Do you have any other talents?" Erik said to put it simply.

She shifted her gaze for a moment. "Well, my father taught me how do, err… sword fighting."

The man's eyes lit up when she said 'fighting.' "Oh really? Are you any good? Killed anybody?"

She stepped back form the man. "I am appalled Monsieur, that you would even dare to think that I would ever bring any bodily harm to anyone!"

"And why not? Haven't you ever had someone say or do something horrible to you, that you wanted to get some sort of revenge?"

"Well yes, but…"

"The world is a cruel place, Mademoiselle, filled with many cruel people. Will you not help to rid the world of such people and thus make it a better place?"

The man's voice was so melodic, so hypnotizing, that it was hard for Evelyn to say anything other than 'yes.' Without thinking, she took the man's outstretched hand, and went with him down into the darkness.

Hours later, they emerged once more from their hiding, clad in black. They snuck out of the building and out into the night air, which was crisp and cool. Slowly they made their way to the palace of Mazenderan. It was easy for Erik to get inside the palace without much of a big deal, because he was working under the Shah of Mazenderan. As they made their way deeper and deeper inside of the palace, they finally came upon the room of the Shah-in-Shah. Erik silently told Evelyn to wait outside, while he went into the room of the sleeping man. In a flash, Erik had pulled out his Punjab Lasso and had choked the Shah-in-Shah with little noise. Two soldiers did claim they heard a noise and came up to the room, but Evelyn was waiting for them and killed them quickly, as well.

When Erik came out of the room and saw the two soldiers lying dead on the floor, he shot a smile at Evelyn, who just gave a 'it was nothing' look. Then they left the palace like nothing had happened and went back to the school where they shared a couple of drinks.

END FLASHBACK

Evelyn smiled at their short time together, which she did enjoy, but her train of thoughts were interrupted by the halting of the carriage.

"We're here," Erik said quietly. In silence, they both got out of the carriage and Erik walked Evelyn to her door.

"It was nice seeing you again, my old friend," said Erik.

"Same to you," replied Evelyn. "But we shall be seeing each other again soon, for I am running your Opera House, after all."

Erik only nodded, and one could see that his mind was clouded with other things.

"Don't worry, she'll be there."

With that Evelyn went inside her house and Erik got back into the carriage, hoping that Emma would be with her parents.


	20. Hello Mother, Hello Father

**A/N: Thank to all of my reviewers once again! My motivation is partially renewed, for I just watched the movie two more times, and saw the broadway show. Also, thank you too the people who gave me suggestions on what to do next. They are not particularly huge in this chapter, but i am planning on it in future chapters : ) **

**Though I am sorry to say that this story is nearly coming to an end... Not yet, but there are probably maybe 5 more chpaters. But maybe if you all review like crazy in these last chapters, then I will make a sequel! Well, enjoy the chapter and review!**

**Chapter 20**

I ran silently through the streets of Paris, frantically trying to get to my parents house. There, I knew that my father would immediately agree with my decision on wanting to stay with them; I only hoped that my mother would as well. If she did not, then I did not know what she would do. I knew that I would argue my hardest in order to make my mother see it my way, and to protect me from Erik at all costs.

Raoul, I knew, would gladly keep me away from my previous captor, but my mother would surely want to try and talk me into going back to him. Even though she did want me with her always, she would never want any harm to come to Erik, emotionally or physically. I also knew that Erik had been through enough pain to last him an eternity, but still, he found me a burden, an item that he could easily do without.

Wondering what Erik did when he found me gone, gave me sadness, yet also provided me with excitement to know that I held the power to cause someone so much pain. Sure, I may have taken an awful advantage on that, but I still felt no guilt. I only hoped that Erik would not come after me, for I did not want to have to face him and explain my decisions.

_He will not listen to me. He will immediately yell in my face and order me to come back to him,_ I thought furiously.

He holds no conscious and will not care what happens to me, as long as I make him feel better and less like a monster. I helped create his lack of guilt. Told him that none of the actions that he had done in the past were his fault, told him that he should hold no responsibly for actions. That did give him some happiness, to know that someone understood. And I did truly understand, but still, he should not have done any of the things that he did. The people who he did kill, I was sure they deserved it, yet Erik should not have taken the power to take away life unto himself

_No one should do that._

And yet, the people were so unfeeling, so merciless, that I wondered if I were in his same position, what would I have done?

_I would have killed them all too._

When this hit me, I completely rethought my actions of leaving Erik. He was just a misunderstood human being. He did not know how to act around adolescants, how to live with them. All his life, he was secluded from everyone, never being introduced to the human nature. Of course he would find me difficult to live with! I was rude, inconsiderate, independent, unsure, moody; how would someone who had never had any friends now how to react to someone with such strong qualities? As I was just figuring this out for the first time, full realization hitting me, I felt the hot tears begin to form at the brim of my eyes.

Finally, I reached my parents home, and I furiously wiped the tears form my eyes, though they would add effect to my reasoning for running away from Erik. Angrily, I slammed my fist on their door, though I think that I could have just walked in, but my mother would have had a fit.

I saw the lights flicker on inside and heard the footsteps sound from behind the door. As the door opened in the dead of night, and as I saw my mother appear on the other side, I felt relief and joy spread over me, wiping away all the anger that I held towards Erik so shortly before.

"Emma!" my mother cried when she saw me on the other side of her door.

"Bonsoir, mother," I said while I stepped inside.

"What are doing out here! It is extremely late!"

"Who was it dear?" I heard a man's voice call from the other room.

"It's Emma!"

In the other room, I heard a chair slid across the wooden floor, creating a low squeaking sound. Soon after I saw my father standing in the doorway, staring at me with shock.

"Why Emma! How in God's name did you get out here so late!"

When I didn't answer and just looked down at the floor, my father's eyes flared with anger.

"Did that bastard do something to you…" he asked in a harsh whisper.

Immediately, I shot my head up and looked directly into my father's eyes. "Of course not, father! He would never! I ran away myself!"

"Why would you do that, Emma? You are the one who wished to stay there with him," my mother said a little too sweetly.

"Because he does not want me," I replied quietly.

For a moment, my mother stared at me with bewilderment on her face, and my father stood in the corner, smirking. At last, my mother spoke.

"Why, Emma? What would make you think that he does not want you? From the time that I spent with the man, it seemed that he loved to have the company of someone who did not think of him as an abhorrent monster."

"He said that he didn't want me! And that I was rude and inconsiderate! I heard it form that horrible man's mouth!"

"Did he say that to you?" my mother asked softly.

"No. But he said it to his old friend Evelyn," I scoffed.

"Evelyn? Who is she?"

"He did not tell me. All he said was that she helped him in a situation a while back."

"Hmm… I do not seem to recall Erik saying anything about her to me," she questioned to herself.

"I did see her in the flesh, mother. And the irony is that she is also the new owner of the Opera House!"

"The new owner? The Opera is reopening!" Christine's expression turned from pure joy to an utter sadness and disappointment.

"What's the matter, mother?"

"I only wish that I could once more sing at the Opera. But I am sure that Erik would never permit. And with his acquaintance running the place, I am sure that she would never hire me either."

Just as I was about to reply, we all heard a knocking coming from our door. We all gave each other a quizzical look, before my mother went to go answer it. Slowly she peered through a crack in the door, and when she saw who it was, she flung it open.

"Erik!"

**Sorry again that it was a bit short, but I wanted the part with Erik to be in the next chappie: ) Now go review!**


	21. Misunderstood

**A/N: Thank you to all of my reviewers! I appreciate it so much! Either the following chaptr or the one after that will be the last one. But do notret! There will bea sequel! Yay! So look for that one soon. Please review thanks!**

**Chapter 21**

"Erik!"

Christine and Erik stood there staring at each other for some time, until Raoul showed up standing behind Christine.

"You are not welcome here," Raoul said bravely. "I suggest you leave."

Erik looked straight into the Vicomte's eyes and smirked. "Do you really think it wise, Monsieur, to threaten me?"

The Vicomte moved forwards and placed a protective hand around his wife, which made her flinch at the sudden movement. "You are not going to harm my family anymore. I shall not permit it."

"I do not need your permission for anything, Vicomte!" Erik roared. "All I came here for is Emma!"

As my family was arguing, I was nearing the front door to get a better look. I peeked my head around the corner as I crouched down into a squatting position. I saw my father standing there with an arm around my mother and behind the door I also saw a very upset Erik. I had not seen Erik this mad since the time that I had seen him without his mask on, which was a very long time ago. Even though I was sorry that I had seen his face for the first time in that manner, I did not regret being able to see his entire face. Seeing him without his covering gave me a higher respect for him, though I had not realized this until now.

A smile faintly spread across my face at my memories with Erik, but that smile quickly turned to a frown when I heard more arguing from the door.

"Move aside, Monsieur! I refuse to leave until I get to speak with her!" Erik bellowed.

"I am not going to let some monster have any more to do with my little girl!" replied Raoul darkly.

Gasping at my father's last words, I was surprised that he would dare to say something like that. I looked over at Erik and saw the murderous flicker in his eyes, telling me that I had to intervene.

"That is enough!" I declared while I stood up and came into view. All eyes fell on me, all of which were taken aback by my sudden appearance. "I am appalled," I continued, "that you all are acting so rudely towards one another!"

"Why should we show him manners, when he obviously doesn't have any himself…" Raoul mumbled. I shot him a glare and he quickly looked down in embarrassment.

Christine finally spoke up for the first time. "Why don't we all go into the living room and I'll prepare some tea." She said this as more of an order rather than a suggestion.

She walked away from Raoul and into the other room, and I closely followed behind. Not far back the two men were following as well. I sat promptly on the couch, where my father sat close by. Erik, on the other hand, decided to stay standing, and paced anxiously around waiting for Christine to return.

As I sat on the couch, an awkward silence crept throughout the room, drawing me to say something, but nothing came. I glanced around at the two men and noticed how nervous and anxious they were. Deep down, I really did want to strike up some sort of conversation in order to lighten the mood, but I couldn't think of anything decent to say. When Christine entered back into the room, it seemed like everyone let out a breath that they didn't know they were holding.

As Christine poured tea into each of the cups, I noticed that her hands were shaking terribly. Peering at her face, I saw that underneath her calm demeanor, Christine was actually extremely worried.

After Christine had handed out the cups of tea, she went and took a seat by me, placing a comforting hand on my leg. She withdrew her hand after I gave a small smile of reassurance, though honestly I had no idea how I was going to go about this. There was more silence filling the room as still nobody said a word. Christine looked over at me expectantly.

"Do not expect me to say anything. I did not ask him to follow me and come here," I said defensively.

"I would not have had to come here, my dear, if you would not have run out in the middle of the night," replied Erik matter-of-factly.

"That would be your fault as well then," I retorted.

"Really? Do tell," encouraged the masked man.

"You did not want me there, so I left," I said simply.

"If I did not want you, then why would I come here after you?"

"To see my mother again of course!" I shouted as I stood on my feet.

For a while, Erik just stood there and stared at me standing before him. At last he replied. "Is that what you think, Emma? That I just took you in to be able to see Christine again?"

"Why else would the great Phantom of the Opera take in a girl, if not to get close once again to his one and only love?"

Erik gathered himself together and made ready to leave. "Yes, of course that is why I took in a girl, not knowing at first who her parents were, and raised her like she was my own. I show mercy all the time." He went to the door. "Bonsoir." Erik then left the home in a fury, desperate to get away from being misunderstood. He needed to visit someone who had always been there for him, saved his life even, his old friend, Nadir.

Back inside the home, all was silent once again. No one had dared to say a word after Erik had left. Christine found it hard to tell what Emma was feeling, whether it was sadness or anger, she was not sure. Raoul was no longer in the living room; he had gone to get a drink form the cupboard. Sadly Christine had noticed her husband doing that a lot lately, mainly when Emma was away at Erik's. But now that Emma was home and the Vicomte was still drinking, Christine prayed that it wasn't becoming too much of a problem.

Though deep down, she felt that she might have to confront her husband sometime in the near the future, which she was deeply dreading. She was afraid of what he might do. While they were at the Opera House those seventeen years ago, Raoul was a sweet man, and Christine truly believed that he had the best intentions in mind. Over the years, however, after Emma had disappeared, her husband had become overly depressed. Trying to help him proved to be no good, for he would not listen to her. He believed too truly that he had no problem to be fixed, causing all Christine's reasoning to go to waste.

In the next few days, Christine knew that she would have to face her husband once more, but she would have to make sure that it was when he was sober. Otherwise, a disaster beyond her imagination would occur.

**A/N: I need to take a vote for the title of the next book:**

**A) Three to Tango**

**B) Clouded Days ahead**

**C) Couds shroud the light**

**D) Night time Sharpens Each Sensation**

**Now click the little button and review! Thxs!**


	22. Murderer! Murderer!

**A/N: Thank you sooo much to all of my reviewers! I appreciate it so much! Thank you all for sticking with me through this story. This is going to be the last chapter of this book. But I will have book two here shortly! This month definantly! It will be called Clouds Shroud the Light. I tallied the votes and there was a tie between three of the titles, so I chose the one that I thought fit best. Well, please review! Thanks!**

**Chapter 22**

Walking through the streets, Erik was in a hurry to get to Nadir's house. He knew that Nadir would be in his house in Paris, for it was springtime. Of course, Erik loathed this time of year, everything was so cheerful, but Nadir had always said that he loved the weather. Inside, Erik was tearing himself apart. He didn't know if he had done the right thing by leaving the house when he did, but Emma's accusations were too much.

He couldn't believe that she thought that all he had done was in order to fulfill his own selfish wants. Indeed, Erik would give anything to have Christine back, but he would have never used an innocent child to do so. And when Erik had taken Emma in, that was all she was, an innocent child. Too curious, yes, but he would never have used a little girl to pursue his lusts.

At last, he reached his old friends house. It was just as Erik remembered: three stories, white with green trim, and a wrap-around porch. Erik had always been jealous of Nadir's social standing, for Erik was never given the chance to rise up with people of importance. Sure, he had money, but never did he mingle with the socialites.

Erik walked up the steps and knocked on the door. He would have hated to barge in there and give poor old Nadir a heart attack. Although, when the man did answer the door, the look on his face showed that he might just have a heart attack anyways.

"Erik!" Nadir said once he had gotten past his initial shock.

"Nadir," replied Erik.

"Come in, come in!" Nadir insisted as he ushered Erik through the door.

The masked man gratefully stepped inside and removed his cloak, placing it on the rack. He heard the door closing behind him and turned to face his old friend.

"What brings you out at this late hour?" asked Nadir.

"What are you still doing up at this late hour?" retorted Erik when he noticed the fire still going and the tea on the table.

Nadir chuckled lightly. "Oh, just a good read, that's all."

"Oh? And what is it this time?" Erik asked politely.

"Dracula by Bram Stoker. Fantastic writer. Personally, Dr. Van Helsing reminds me of myself."

"You always find some way to put yourself into a story, do you not, Nadir?"

"Well, you know me. It makes the book seem more real that way," said Nadir as he took a seat in his armchair in front of the fire. Erik took the seat opposite him and gazed into the blazing flames."

"What's troubling you, my old friend?" asked Nadir, noticing the look of concentration on his face.

"I guess one could say, family problems," Erik said while still looking at the fire.

"Family?"

Erik looked at Nadir. "Not real family of course." Nadir let out the breath he was holding. "But about 11 years a go, a five year old girl showed up in the Opera House, her name was Emma. I took her in, for I did not want her wandering the halls of my home, you know how dangerous they can be. Well, when I questioned the girl about her parents, she told me their names, which turned out to be Christine and Raoul." Erik looked at Nadir to see if the names registered with him. From the look on his face, Erik took it that he did not. "You remember Christine Daae? The girl that I fell in love with at the Opera House, but ran away with the Vicomte de Chagny?" A look of understanding and surprise came into Nadir's face.

"Oh yes. I remember that quite well. You were devastated when she left…" Nadir said quietly. "And this girls parents were the same people from the Opera?" Erik nodded his head. "Oh my…"

"Yes… And so I kept the girl, at first in order to bring suffering to Raoul, like he brought me, but then I grew attached to the girl. I raised her like she was my own for 11 years."

"So what happened?"

Erik sighed. "One day, a woman happened upon my home. Evelyn – "

"That girl from the Mazerderan Palace?" asked Nadir.

"The one and only," Erik confirmed. "When she came, Emma seemed very displeased. The other night, Evelyn and I were having a conversation about Emma, and I guess she happened to over here. That night she ran away. The next day, when I noticed she was gone, I went directly to her parents' house. Of course she was there. I asked her why she left me, and she said it was because I did not want her. And of course I wanted her, Nadir! She accepted me! But she did not believe me. So I left and came here."

When Erik had finished his tale, Nadir had a great look of sympathy on his shadowed face. To Erik, it seemed like Nadir understood perfectly, which he always did.

"I am deeply sorry, Erik. But, if you don't mind me asking, why did you come here?"

"Honestly, I am not sure. The only reason I can muster up is that I wanted to talk to someone who actually understood me, and was an old friend," Erik replied as he clasped a hand on nadir's shoulder. Nadir returned the friendly gesture.

"I am always, here, Erik. Now come, you must be exhausted. I'll prepare you a room." Nadir rose from his chair, followed by Erik, and walked upstairs.

Erik was grateful to his old friend, and promised to himself that he would find some way to repay him.

_

* * *

_

_The following day…_

Christine awoke the next morning with a slight headache. Looking next to her, she noticed that Raoul was still sound asleep.

_Probably had a late night drinking, _she thought sourly to herself.

She rose quietly from her bed, careful not to wake her husband. Behind her she heard him moan, a sign that he was about to wake up. She kicked herself on the inside, angry that she was so careless as to wake her husband. Next to her she heard more groaning and she felt his cold gaze land on her.

"What are you doing up," he asked sleepily.

"It is nearly nine. I always wake up at this time," she retorted.

Raoul sat straight up behind her. "How dare you take that tone with me!" he said harshly. "And breakfast should already be made at this time in the morning. From now on, you are to be up at seven every morning."

"It doesn't take two hours to make breakfast," argued Christine as she turned to face Raoul.

Raoul was quick as lightening when he heard his wife begin to argue with him. "I am tired of your attitude, Christine," he spit out as he grabbed her neck. She tried to pry his hand off her, but to no avail. Her struggle only made him grasp harder, throttling the breath out of. "Now you will go make breakfast. And you will tell no one of this," he ordered as he threw her onto the ground.

Slowly, Christine regained her posture and glared at her husband, who was smirking on the bed, "You bastard…" she said softly before she marched out of the room.

With tears threatening to pour down her cheeks, she attempted to make a suitable breakfast. Her mind swirled with different thoughts. Thoughts on what she did to make her husband so angry with her, or what she did to make him go drink every night. Christine was so caught up in her thoughts that she failed to notice her husband stalking up behind her. He quickly took two steps and was behind her, wrapping his arms around her shaking body. One arm went around her waist, and the other hand rested around her throat, while he grinded his body against hers.

"Get off me…" she whispered.

"I am your husband. I can do whatever I want," he said coldly in her ear.

"But that does not give you the right to degrade me," she retorted.

Raouls' grip on her tightened. "But it gives you the right to go gallivanting off with other men?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I know what you have been up to," accused Raoul, his breath stank with alcohol. "I know that you have been with that man, that - Erik." He turned her around fiercely to face him, his eyes burning with hatred.

Suddenly, he began shaking her violently, saying profanities to her as well. He was so busy focusing on her pained face that he didn't notice her hand going towards the drawer on her right. Some how she managed to open in and take out a butcher knife inside. Fastening her grip on the weapon she brought in down her husband's arm, creating g a deep gash. He cried out in pain and let go of Christine, who then ran down the hall. Raoul recovered from his pain and shock and took off after his wife, where he found her in their bedroom. She was standing on the far side of the bed, and Raoul hurtled himself over the bed and tackled his wife to the ground. In the sudden movement, Christine had dropped her knife, and lay helpless on the ground to her husband's brutal beatings.

Desperately she tried to grab her knife, which laid a foot away. She fought against the pain that Raoul was inflicting, and reached for the knife. At last she felt her hand grasp firmly around the handle of the knife. Taking a deep breath, she raised the knife over her husband and thrust it deep into his back. She flinched at how loud he cried out in pain, but still he attempted to attack Christine. Once more, she stabbed him the back, this time causing a fatal blow.

She heard him whisper "Christine" before he fell limp on top of her, blood soaking her nightgown. Pushing the dead body off of her, Christine stood up, trembling, and looked down at what she had done. She was mortified at what she saw, letting out a scream, before she covered her mouth.

"What's going on?" she heard a voice say behind her.

Still shaking she turned around.

* * *

I had just gotten out of bed, for I heard ruckus going on in my house. At first I went into the kitchen, but no one was there. I glanced around, to try to see if I could find anyone, but there wasn't a soul in sight. I was about to go into the living room, when I heard a scream from my parents' bedroom. Hesitantly I walked down the hallway, unsure and afraid of what I would find. I walked in through the door and saw my mother standing there, her whole figure trembling.

"What's going on?" I asked, my voice slightly shaking.

My mother turned around and looked at me with tears streaking down her cheeks. I looked over her form and was mortified at what I saw. Her clothes were covered n blood, whose, I did not know, and she was holding a knife in her hand, which was covered in red blood as well. My mother didn't say a word, her tears were enough to tell me that something horrible had happened.

Slowly I crept around the bed, and each step I took made my body begin to tremble more and more. When I had at last gotten to the other side of the bed and looked at the body on the floor, my hand flew to my mouth as I turned my head and closed my eyes. There lay my father, dead on the ground, two gashing holes in his back. I looked over at my mother, who seemed to be just as saddened by this as I was, but I knew better. She had killed him, though I did not know why. To me it seemed like they shared a marvelous relationship, one filled with love and trust. But if this were so, why did she kill him?

I turned away from the horrendous sight, my whole world falling apart. Behind me I heard my mother trying to say something to stop me, but I kept going. I wanted nothing to do with her, she was a murderer, and one without cause. Everything around me seemed to go in slow motion as I walked through my house. I desperately needed to get out of this house. Where I was going to go, what I was going to do, I had no clue. All I knew was that I needed to get away, somewhere where my mother could not bother me. Of such a place, I did not know.

Once I had gotten out of my house, I began running. I ran like there was no tomorrow. And for me, I didn't know if there would be.

**Muahahaha! Cliff hanger at the end of a book. I am so evil! But review and I will have the next book here soon!**

**It is a fanfiction sin to read and not review!**


	23. Author's Note & Thanks

Hey there everyone! I just wanted to let you all know that the sequel to Return to Me is now up! Just chapter 1 for now, but I should be posting again soon. The sequel is called Clouds Shroud the Light. So if ya liked Part 1, then be sure to go read and review part 2! Unsure if there will be a part 3... depends on how I feel and how many reviews I get. : )

So, I guess you can just go under my profile and find the second story there... And review! Thxs!

- EriksLeadinglady

And thank you ALL for reading this story! Your reviews mean so much to me! They were what kept me writing. So keep up the awesome work! I thank every single one of you: )


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